Dear Editor,
There are just 17 days to go in the 2025 Legislative Session, and committees met all weekend hearing legislation and advancing bills.
Over the Feb. 28 weekend, the State Senate advanced Senate Bill 11 on a vote of 29-8. The measure now heads to the House of Representatives for consideration.
Our union testified in support of SBl 11, when it was last heard in the Senate Finance Committee. SB 11 seeks to encourage local K-12 school districts to adopt policies around cell phone use and access during instructional hours.
AFT New Mexico supports SB 11 because it allows for K-12 districts to adopt cell phone policies, provides local funding, and is structured so local communities can determine the policy that best serves their students’ educational needs, including those students who may need access to cell phones to aid in their learning.
House Bill 69 was heard in the Senate Education Committee March 3. The bill introduces a multiplier when calculating time worked under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Act.
Specifically, this legislation will more quickly allow adjunct instructors to have their loans forgiven based on their public service as instructors at institutions of higher education in New Mexico. For example, the act requires higher education institutions to calculate an instructor’s full-time status by multiplying the number of credit hours or student contact hours by a minimum of 4.35 so that an instructor teaching one three-credit-hour course would be credited with 13.05 hours of work for the purpose of calculating eligibility for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
HB 69 passed the Senate Education Committee on a 7-0 unanimous vote. The bill now heads to the Senate Finance Committee.
The Senate Rules Committee also heard two pieces of legislation that our union has been tracking March 3.
HB 193 brings early education and higher education issues into the interim legislative process, allowing members of the Legislative Education Study Committee to research and perform studies on critical issues beyond just K-12.
As our union grows, especially in the higher education space, we need HB 193 to pass to best address issues like faculty compensation and working conditions for those in higher education institutions.
AFT New Mexico supports HB 193 and has each time it has been introduced in prior sessions. HB 193 was approved unanimously, 8-0, by members of the Senate Rules Committee.
Also heard March 3 was Senate Joint Resolution 15, which is the fourth piece of legislation introduced this session that would institute a State Board of Education for K12 schools.
SJR 15 proposes a 9-member appointed board and maintains the current elected 10-member Public Education Commission. This is a significant difference from other proposals around re-establishing a State Board of Education – other proposals introduced brought charter school authorization under the proposed state board of education.
SJR 15 does not establish how the members of the Board are appointed, leaving that determination to future legislative sessions, should this constitutional amendment be approved by voters in 2026.
AFT New Mexico supports the return to a State Board of Education due to the instability of leadership at the NM PED, however, we are concerned that the method and make-up of this proposed Board of Education are currently unknown.
Members of the Senate Rules Committee voted 5-3 to advance SJR 15. Members of both political parties voted for and against the measure.
Sincerely,
Whitney Holland
President, NM American Federation of Teachers
