Background/Footnotes: In 1993, New Mexico passed the Charter Schools Act, House Bill 888, authorizing the State Board of Education to convert five existing public schools into charter schools. Each charter was granted for a five-year period, after which it would have to pass a review process to be renewed. Charter schools remained under the authority of the local school boards. Waivers from state and local laws and regulations had to be approved by the state board.[1]

In 1997, then-Governor Gary Johnson announced a comprehensive education reform program called "For the Children's Sake." The plan would have increased accountability, funding, and choice for students by providing scholarships that were redeemable at public, private, or religious schools. The proposal failed to garner enough support and was not enacted.[2]

In 1999, the legislature replaced New Mexico's limited charter school law with a strong law, Senate Bill 192. The 1999 law allows for up to 75 start-up and 25 conversion charter schools within any five-year period. Local school boards authorize charter schools, and applicants who are rejected may appeal to the state board. Charter schools receive some automatic waivers from state and local laws and regulations.[3]

Governor Johnson twice vetoed the state budget in 1999 in part because it did not include desired education reform provisions, such as voucher plans or tax credits. The governor advocated a program that would have provided vouchers worth approximately $3,200 for students to attend any public, charter, private, or religious school of choice.[4]

Governor Johnson signed H.B. 753, a charter school amendment, on April 6, 2001. This bill limited the provision of transportation for students to and from charter schools to a radius of 10 miles from the school's location.[5]

Several tax credit bills were introduced during the 2001 session. H.B. 422, the Tuition Scholarship Tax Credit, would have provided tax credits of up to $500 for donations toward tuition scholarships for low-income students (but would not have allowed the donor to designate a particular student as a recipient of the scholarship). H.B. 421 would have established a refundable tax credit for families at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty level. H.B. 420 would have established a tax credit of up to $500 for home-schooling families. All of these bills died in committee.[6]

Voucher legislation was also introduced in 2001. H.B. 503, the Children's Educational Guarantee Act, would have given vouchers to students in failing schools. S.B. 414, the Opportunity Scholarship Act, would have authorized scholarships for children in kindergarten.[7] These bills also died in committee.

Several school choice bills were introduced in 2002. The Parental Choice Act, H.B. 319, was introduced to establish a school voucher program for low-income students in urban areas with populations of more than 400,000. Under this legislation, students using vouchers would have to take a standardized state proficiency test. S.B. 415 and S.B. 301 would have authorized income tax credits of up to $500 annually for contributions to scholarship organizations.[8] S.B. 301 lost a committee vote, and the other two bills died in committee.

Two bills that would have allowed tax deductions for parents of home and private school students died in 2003. S.B. 97 would have allowed home-schooling parents to take a deduction of up to $3,500.[9] H.B. 868 would have allowed parents of home or private school students to deduct $1,000 from their taxable income.[10] Both bills died in committee.[11]

A tuition tax credit bill, S.B. 237, was introduced in 2003. Under this legislation, individuals contributing to a scholarship organization could have received a tax credit of up to $500 and would have been allowed to earmark their donation so that it directly benefited a specified student, including a dependent. This bill also died in committee.[12]

H.B. 212 was signed into law in 2003. This bill changes the state's open enrollment law to require schools to give students in the schools' attendance zone first priority for enrollment, followed by students seeking to transfer from schools in need of improvement.[13]

In 2003-2004 Educate New Mexico entered its fourth year of providing scholarships to students. During this school year the program funded scholarships of $1,000 per year for K-6 students and $1,500 for students in grades 7-12. Over 400 students benefited from the program in 2003-2004.[14]

Several bills pertaining to charter schools were introduced in 2004. H.B. 404 and S.B. 403 would require that school districts provide charter schools with facilities at no cost to the charter if there is no cost to the district. S.B. 403 stalled in the state Senate Finance Committee and H.B. 404 stalled after passing in the House (52-13).[15]

Also in 2004, H.B. 554 was introduced by Richard D. Virgil (D-70) and would have made charter schools independent of public school districts and given them more freedom in the management of their budgets.[16] The bill stalled in the House Education Committee. Its companion bill, S.B. 521, passed in the Senate but was not considered in the House.[17]

S.B. 475 was introduced by Mark Biotano (R-18) in 2004 to give chartering authority to the state department of education. The bill stalled in committee.[18]

A voucher bill was introduced in the 2004 session that would create a pilot program. S.B. 300 proposes that students from families at or below the poverty line receive a voucher covering the cost of attending a public or private school of choice. The proposed pilot program would last four years. The bill stalled in committee.[19]

Two important school choice bills were introduced in 2005. The first, H.B. 1101, extends the charter district status of the Rio Rancho Public School system. (When the state's original charter law was passed, the district's charter status was only approved for four years.)[20] Governor Bill Richardson signed the bill in April.

The second bill, H.B. 337, creates a pilot voucher program for pre-kindergarten students in low-income areas. Students can attend public or private schools using the vouchers.[21] Governor Richardson signed the legislation on April 5.[22]

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