NEW MEXICO

Neal Dickert Jr.

Background Information
        The New Mexico Charter Schools Act came into effect 
after the state legislature passed it in 1993.  As stated in 
the legislation, the law's purpose is "to enable individual 
schools to restructure their educational curriculum to 
encourage the use of different and innovative teaching 
methods and to enable individual schools to be responsible 
for site-based budgeting and expenditures" (NM Stat. Ann.  
22-8A-3). Since then, it has been in the process of accepting 
and reviewing applicants for the five charter schools which 
it permits.  There have been no additions to the law since 
its enactment; however, the state's republican governor 
recently vetoed an attempt to increase planning grants for 
prospective applicants from the current $5,000 which is 
routinely given (Bierlein and Mulholland, April, 1995).
Legislation
        There are several key aspects of the New Mexico law that 
distinguish it as one of the more restrictive pieces of 
charter school legislation.  It requires that only existing 
public schools be allowed to become charter schools and does 
not provide for open enrollment (Millot, 1995).  The 
application/approval process is also quite restrictive.  It 
requires at least sixty-five percent support from the 
teachers at the school and the significant involvement in 
planning and support for the measure from the parents whose 
children attend the school.  The state board of education is 
responsible for approving the charter proposal, and there is 
no appeals procedure.  In terms of waiving requirements, a 
New Mexico charter school must follow any non-waived 
requirements for public schools.  Once a school receives a 
charter, the school is allowed to operate for a five year 
period, after which the state board will review the schoolÕs 
progress based upon the charter agreement and decide whether 
to renew the charter. In addition, the schools established 
under this law are not legally autonomous.  They remain under 
the authority of local school boards (Bierlein and 
Mulholland, April, 1995, Millot, 1994 and GAO Report, 1995).
Results of Law
        Four schools to date have converted to charter status, 
all at the beginning of the 1994/1995 school year.  These 
schools are Turquoise Trail Elementary (Santa Fe), Broad 
Horizons Educational Center (Portales), Taylor Middle School 
(Albequerque), and Highland High School (Albequerque).  
According to Richard LaPan, Charter School Coordinator, the 
state expects to determine the fifth conversion this summer 
in order to have that school converted for the 1995/1996 
school year.  The exact format of these schools is unclear 
from the literature obtained, although it is known which 
state requrements ahve been waived for the schools.  Both 
Turquoise Trail and Broad Horizons received waivers with 
respect to the distribution of instructional material funds, 
adn Broad Horizons also received a waiver in order to extend 
the school day (New Mexico Department of Education packet, p. 
2).   
Conclusions
        What can we conclude about New Mexico's legislation?  
Essentially, we must view this law as a sort of 
"experimentational" law. Because it only allows five schools 
and specifies that the applicants must be existing public 
schools, the law does not seem to favor radical reform. For 
the same reasons and also the lack of open enrollment, it 
also ignores any element of competition or school choice for 
parents and students.  Thus, as the legislation only allows 
entire public schools with their current student body to 
become charter schools, the law does not provide for any 
smaller scale experimentation which would seem would be 
necessary in order to sponsor any truly radical reform within 
a school.  A New Mexico charter school will simply benefit 
from certain waived restrictions on how a school should be 
run.  As a result, specifically due to the public school 
requirement, the law basically precludes any extensive 
charter school system but may be effective in allowing for 
the lessening of some unnecessary restrictions and for the 
promotion of innovative techniques and more student-centered 
learning programs.