Understanding the Steps to Open a Charter School in New Mexico, and Considerations

Charter schools are public schools that are created by a contract, or charter, between a school’s founders and the state or local school district. When a charter wants to operate outside of the local school district and applies to the state verses within the local school one should ask why?

Charter schools are exempt from many, though not all, of the rules and requirements that apply to traditional public schools.

A consideration by taxpayers to consider is charter schools in New Mexico are funded by the public or local taxpayers however they have less oversight than traditional public schools. A concern raised by Think New Mexico, 25 year old think tank operating in New Mexico, is that the current laws governing charter schools in New Mexico make it difficult to close charter schools that are underperforming academically.

Only a handful of charter schools have ever been required to shut down in New Mexico, and most of those closures were for fiscal mismanagement, rather than academic failure. By contrast, 13 states have charter school laws that require the closure of schools that fail to perform academically for a certain number of years.

Per Think New Mexico the state needs tune legislation around the Charter School Programs...

First, the current laws governing charter schools make it difficult to close charter schools that are underperforming academically. Only a handful of charter schools have ever been required to shut down in New Mexico, and most of those closures were for fiscal mismanagement, rather than academic failure. By contrast, 13 states have charter school laws that require the closure of schools that fail to perform academically for a certain number of years.

Second, New Mexico’s current charter law makes it very difficult to replicate successful charter schools. If a charter school seeks to locate a new campus in a different school district, it must apply for a whole new charter, just as if it were a brand new school, and it must recruit an entirely new governing board for each branch located in another district. This restriction has prevented excellent charter schools with long waiting lists from serving as many students as they could because the current law.

The legislature and governor should allow academically successful charter schools to open multiple campuses in New Mexico under a single charter contract.

Third, New Mexico should also make it easier for charters to serve the students who would gain the most benefit from them. State law currently requires that charter schools must enroll students using a pure lottery system, in which all students are eligible to apply to attend and are selected by a random drawing.

The problem with this system is that it favors children whose parents have the knowledge, time, and fluency in English to successfully navigate the lottery application process. Fourteen states allow charters to give priority to disadvantaged populations of students.

The legislature and governor should reform the charter school law to allow charters to give enrollment preference to the sort of students who would benefit most from a specialized education, such as at-risk students, students with disabilities, and English language learners.

Finally, if one key goal of charter schools is to create options for students who are underserved by the traditional public schools, then those students should have reasonable access to them regardless of where they live in New Mexico.

The process to launch a charter school in New Mexico:

The authorization of New Mexico charter schools is governed by the Charter Schools Act, Chapter 22, Article 8B of the New Mexico Statutes Annotated (NMSA) 1978. NMSA 22-8B-5.3(H) requires all chartering authorities to “develop and maintain chartering policies and practices consistent with nationally recognized principles and standards for quality charter authorizing in all major areas of authorizing.”

As the authorizer of state charter schools, the Public Education Commission (PEC) has developed policies and processes in each area of the charter school cycle. Section 6.2.9 of the New Mexico Administrative Code (NMAC) governs the PEC’s processes regarding the schools it authorizes.

A new Charter School application begins with a notice of intent. For the proposed school for Alamogordo the Notice of Intent has been filed; Sacramento School of Engineering and Science.

Applicants for new charter schools have the option to seek initial approval from either their local chartering authority (district) or the PEC as the state chartering authority. Notices of Intent are due no later than the second Tuesday in January of the year the application will be filed. Applications are due according to the chartering authority’s deadlines, but must be submitted no later than July 1 annually. Chartering authorities must decide whether to approve or deny the application by September 1, annually.

According to NMSA § 22-8B-6(B), a Notice of Intent to Submit a Charter Application (NOI) must be filed by the organizers of a proposed charter school to the Public Education Commission AND to the Superintendent of the school district in which the charter school is proposed to be located. This NOI must be filed with the PED Charter School Division (CSD) no later than the second Tuesday in January of the year the application will be filed. Failure to file this NOI may result in the new charter school application being rejected. The PEC and PED’s Notice of Intent form is available at this link:

• Public Education Commission (PEC) Notice of Intent (NOI) Form
  NOTE: A local district may accept or even require a different form for the NOI. It is the applicant’s responsibility to contact the local district to determine if the PEC NOI form is acceptable to the local authorizer.

Implementation year once approved: Pursuant to Section 22-8B-12(B) and (C), between receiving approval of its new application and opening its doors, a new charter school must “file a minimum of three status reports with the chartering authority and the department for the purpose of demonstrating that the charter school’s implementation progress is consistent with the conditions, standards and procedures of its approved charter.” In addition, prior to the end of the Implementation Year, the school must “demonstrate that its facilities meet the requirements of Section 22-8B-4.2 NMSA 1978.”

The contract authorizing operations if for up to a maximum of 5 years before renewal. Pursuant to Section 22-8B-9 New Mexico Statutes Annotated 1978, chartering authorities and charter schools must enter into a contract which includes a Performance Framework.

Contracts between state-chartered schools and their authorizer, the Public Education Commission (PEC), are posted on the State Charter School Contracts and Annual Reports web page. Contracts between district-chartered schools and their authorizers (school districts) are available from those authorizers.

Any amendments to the operations must be approved by the PED during the contract term via If the governing board of a school chartered by the Public Education Commission (PEC) wishes to amend the terms of the contract during the contract term, it must submit one of the amendment request forms below. The requested amendment cannot take effect until the PEC has voted to approve it at a public meeting.

Notifications are to inform the PEC of changes in key personnel or other changes that are not material terms of the contract. Notifications are generally placed on the PEC’s consent agenda rather than as individual agenda items, though any item on the consent agenda may be pulled from that agenda to the regular agenda for discussion by the PEC.

Monitoring and Support is provided by PED. The PED Charter Schools Division provides staff support to the PEC, which includes the annual monitoring of all PEC-chartered schools. Schools are evaluated according to the performance framework in their contracts, and the CSD provides an annual report that is posted on the State Charter School Contracts and Annual Reports web page.

The annual monitoring process is detailed in the 2023-24 CSD Annual Monitoring Protocol.

The Charter Schools Division (CSD) also provides training and technical assistance to charter schools, including statutorily mandated training for governing boards of all charter schools (district as well as state), trainings to support new school applicants, schools in their implementation year, and schools seeking to renew their charter contract. 6.2.9.12-13 NMAC governs the process for the annual site visit and annual report, and any corrective action require as a result.

RENEWAL

During the final year of its contract, the school submits a renewal application to its authorizer (or to a different authorizer). If the application is approved, the school signs a new contract with the authorizer. 6.2.9.16 NMAC establishes the renewal process for schools applying for renewal with the PEC.

Commentary:

Public imput is a part of process. The applicants representing the founding board of Sacramento School of Engineering and Science in Alamogordo are tasked with the responsibility of transparency to the public and the taxpayers of Alamogordo. The founding committee owes the public an explanation as to why it is not applying to the APS System as the charter authority but instead to the state? What is the driving force for a seperate system verses a Charter within the APS framework or an enhancement to already existing student offerings within APS? The public must be convinced this is the best path forward and tranparency, education and communications to all media and via public forums allows for that dialog to occur in the light of the public.

The process above is an outline of the steps to ensure transparency and to educate local taxpayers and voters of the process, steps and timetables as provided by the New Mexico Department of Public Education.