NM Public Education Department can't enforce 180-day school year rule, judge says

A controversial rule requiring school districts to spend 180 days a year with students was struck down Monday by a state judge.

5th Judicial District Court Judge Dustin Hunter ruled that the New Mexico Public Education Department’s policy, announced in March, was not enforceable and did not align with the Legislature’s intent to provide “local flexibility” to school districts in setting the number of instructional days.

Hunter also ruled that PED’s rule forcing teachers to work outside instructional time and the school year did not align with the Legislature’s intent to embed the work into the school day.

School districts on a four-day weekly calendar could continue that practice, Hunter said.

The judge’s decision stems from a lawsuit the New Mexico School Superintendents’ Association launched in April asking a judge to restrain PED from enforcing the rule, which was set to go into effect on July 1, 2024.

Hunter had issued an order prohibiting PED from enforcing the rule, but Monday’s ruling came in response to NMSSA’s motion for the judge to decide the Curry County case without going to trial.

PED is dissatisfied with the ruling, said PED spokesperson Janelle Taylor García.

“PED firmly believes that our students can achieve better educational outcomes when we maximize learning opportunities, as the rule intended,” Garcia said.

NMSSA, which represented 55 of the state’s 89 school districts in the lawsuit, was pleased with the outcome, said NMSSA President Marty Madrid.

“It reaffirms the importance of local control and the voice of educational leaders,” Madrid said. “This ruling is also a step forward, ensuring that school boards and superintendents are the ones that make the informed decisions that best serve each of our individual districts.”

Stan Rounds, executive director of the New Mexico Coalition of Educational Leaders, echoed Madrid’s comments, adding that the judge’s ruling leaves his organization with “a positive about the impact (of this ruling) on our students in New Mexico.”

Albuquerque Public Schools was not part of the lawsuit. In April, APS believed the PED rule did not apply to the district and the current academic calendar would satisfy the 180-day rule, an APS spokesperson said.

The school district had no comment on the ruling Monday, said APS spokesperson Martin Salazar. The district’s current school year and the next two school years are 184 days long, he said.

Hunter’s ruling comes during a 60-day legislative session in which House Bill 65, sponsored by Rep. Gail Armstrong, R-Magdalena, would clarify that local school boards and governing boards of charter schools should determine the number of instructional days each week and per school year.

Armstrong called the judge’s ruling “a huge win for rural New Mexico,” in a prepared statement.

“The intent of the law is clear and today that was solidified,” she said. “For too long, the governor has failed to recognize how her mandate would have negatively impacted rural communities around the state and has created vast uncertainty for our students and families. Control of our schools at the local level is vital to the success of our communities.”

Last year, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a vocal proponent of the 180-day rule, issued a line-item veto of a provision in the state budget bill that would have barred PED from using public dollars to implement such a 180-day rule. Lujan Grisham was later critical of the lawsuit against the PED.

The agency has 30 days to appeal the court’s decision, which Garcia said the agency is reviewing before deciding next steps.