N.M. Stat. Ann. § 22-8-23
A. An approved public school with a MEM of fewer than four hundred, including early childhood education full-time-equivalent MEM but excluding membership in class C and class D programs and excluding full-time-equivalent membership in three- and four-year-old developmentally disabled programs, that is geographically located in a school district with fewer than two thousand MEM, is eligible for additional program units. Separate schools established to provide special programs, including vocational and alternative education, shall not be classified as public schools for purposes of generating size adjustment program units. The number of additional program units to which a school district or charter school is entitled under this subsection is the sum of elementary-junior high units and senior high units computed in the following manner:
Elementary-Junior High Units 200 - MEM _________ x 1.0 x MEM = Units 200
where MEM is equal to the membership of an approved elementary or junior high school, including early childhood education full-time-equivalent membership but excluding membership in class C and class D programs and excluding full-time-equivalent membership in three- and four-year-old developmentally disabled programs;
Senior High Units 200 - MEM _________ x 2.0 x MEM = Units 200
or,
Senior High Units 400 - MEM _________ x 1.6 x MEM = Units 400
whichever calculation for senior high units is higher, where MEM is equal to the membership of an approved senior high school, excluding membership in class C and class D programs.
B. An approved public school with a MEM of fewer than four hundred, including early childhood education full-time-equivalent MEM but excluding MEM in class C and class D programs and excluding full-time-equivalent MEM in three- and four-year-old developmentally disabled programs, geographically located in a school district with two thousand MEM or more is eligible for additional program units computed in the following manner:
C. A school district with total MEM of fewer than four thousand, including early childhood education full-time-equivalent MEM, is eligible for additional program units. The number of additional program units to which a school district is entitled under this subsection is the number of district units computed in the following manner:
District Units 4,000 - MEM ___________ x 0.15 x MEM = Units 4,000
where MEM is equal to the total district membership, including early childhood education full-time-equivalent membership.
D. A school district with a MEM of fewer than two hundred, including early childhood education full-time-equivalent MEM, is eligible for additional program units if the department certifies that the school district has implemented practices to reduce scale inefficiencies, including shared service agreements with regional education cooperatives or other school districts for noninstructional functions and distance education. The numbers of additional program units to which a school district is entitled under this subsection is the number of units computed in the following manner:
200 - MEM = Units
where MEM is equal to the total district MEM, including early childhood education full-time-equivalent MEM.
History: 1953 Comp., § 77-6-18.7, enacted by Laws 1974, ch. 8, § 14; reenacted by Laws 1975, ch. 119, § 1; 1976 (S.S.), ch. 32, § 7; 1977, ch. 82, § 1; 1979, ch. 276, § 1; 1981, ch. 87, § 1; 1989, ch. 221, § 1; 1991, ch. 85, § 4; 1993, ch. 87, § 1; 1997, ch. 40, § 6; 2014, ch. 57, § 1; 2019, ch. 206, § 14; 2019, ch. 207, § 14; 2026, ch. 8, § 4.
The 2026 amendment, effective July 1, 2026, excluded a school district's membership of students enrolled in distance learning programs from the calculation for size adjustment program units, and made certain technical amendments; in Subsection A, after "An approved public school" deleted "including a charter school"; in Subsection D, after "A school district" deleted "as defined in Subsection R of Section 22-1-2 NMSA 1978"; and in Subsection E, after "differential factor of" deleted "0.03 for fiscal year 2020, 0.06 for fiscal year 2021, 0.09 for fiscal year 2022, 0.12 for fiscal year 2023 and 0.15 for fiscal year 2024 and subsequent fiscal years", and added "0.15; provided that the full-time equivalent MEM used for this determination does not include membership derived from distance learning students."
Temporary provisions. — Laws 2026, ch. 8, § 13 effective February 25, 2026, provided:
A. For the purposes of the Public School Finance Act [Chapter 22, Article 8 NMSA 1978] in fiscal year 2026, a school district with MEM over eight thousand whose MEM on the first reporting date of fiscal year 2026 is at least ten percent lower than the school district's MEM on the first reporting date of fiscal year 2025 shall calculate the total number of program units to which the school district is entitled by averaging the school district's MEM on the first reporting date of fiscal year 2025 and the school district's MEM on the first reporting date of fiscal year 2026.
B. For the purposes of the Public School Finance Act in fiscal years 2026 and 2027, a school district is not eligible for enrollment growth program units pursuant to Section 22-8-23.1 NMSA 1978 for students enrolled in a full-time distance learning program.
C. For fiscal year 2027, a school district or charter school shall not reorganize to create a school district, school or school program that has a majority of students enrolled in a full-time distance learning program.
D. The legislative education study committee, in collaboration with the legislative finance committee and the public education department, shall conduct a comprehensive study on virtual instruction in the state. The study shall evaluate the status of full-time distance learning programs or similar programs and assess the outcomes of students enrolled in the programs, with particular focus on those students who are in kindergarten through fifth grade, the cost of operating the programs and potential legislative action regarding full-time distance learning programs. On or before November 1, 2026, the legislative education study committee shall submit a final report on the comprehensive study to the governor, the public education department and the legislative finance committee.
E. As used in this section, "full-time distance learning program" means a public school instructional program in which students receive virtual instruction and are not required to attend school at a school building.
The 2019 amendment, effective June 14, 2019, made changes to the public school funding formula; in Subsection A, after "public school", added "including a charter school", after "disabled programs", added "that is geographically located in a school district with fewer than two thousand MEM", and after "school district", added "or charter school"; added a new Subsection B and redesignated former Subsection B as Subsection C; deleted former Subsection C; and added Subsection E.
Laws 2019, ch. 206, § 14, and Laws 2019, ch. 207, § 14, both effective June 14, 2019, enacted identical amendments to this section. The section was set out as amended by Laws 2019, ch. 207, § 14. See Section 12-1-8 NMSA 1978.
Applicability. — Laws 2019, ch. 206, § 29 and Laws 2019, ch. 207, § 29, provided that the provisions of §§ 2 through 19 apply to the program cost calculation in fiscal year 2020 and subsequent fiscal years.
The 2014 amendment, effective July 1, 2014, provided additional operational funding formula units for school districts with a membership of less than two hundred students; and added Subsection D.
The 1997 amendment, effective July 1, 1997, rewrote the computations throughout the section; substituted "membership in class C and class D programs and excluding full-time-equivalent membership in three- and four-year-old developmentally disabled programs" for "special education class C and class D membership" throughout Subsection A; deleted "and special education membership" following "full-time-equivalent membership" throughout Subsection B; and deleted former Subsections D through F, relating to school districts with membership greater than ten thousand but less than fifteen thousand, school districts with membership greater than fifteen thousand but less than thirty-five thousand, and school districts with membership greater than thirty-five thousand, respectively.
The 1993 amendment, effective June 18, 1993, deleted "early childhood education" following "not limited to" in the first sentence of Subsection A and made a minor stylistic change.
The 1991 amendment, effective July 1, 1991, in Subsection D, substituted "fifteen thousand" for "thirty-five thousand" near the beginning and ".15" for ".2" in the formula; added Subsection E; designated former Subsection E as Subsection F; and substituted ".023" for ".008" in the formula in Subsection F.
The 1989 amendment, effective July 1, 1991, substituted "MEM" for "ADM" and deleted "average daily" preceding "membership" several times throughout the section, added Subsections D and E, and made minor stylistic changes throughout the section.
School is only entitled to size adjustment program units if it meets the statutory criteria. Taos Mun. Schs. Charter Sch. v. Davis, 2004-NMCA-129, 136 N.M. 543, 102 P.3d 102, cert. denied, 2004-NMCERT-010, 136 N.M. 542, 101 P.3d 808.