Richardson
signs several education bills
By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer
GALLUP — Gov. Bill Richardson this week signed an array
of education bills fresh out of the latest state legislative session.
Topping off the six bills the governor made official during a signing
ceremony Monday at Albuquerque High School was H.B. 96, better knows
as the Public Education
Department Act.
The act officially recognizes a constitutional amendment New Mexico voters
overwhelmingly approved during a special referendum last September to replaced
the state superintendent
of public education, responsible to a state board of education, with an education
secretary, accountable directly to the governor. The amendment simultaneously
replaces the voting education board with a strictly advisory body.
Although the changes had already taken effect, Richardson's signature Monday
put the final stamp of approval on a campaign promise to make public education
in the state more accountable to the governor's office.
Richardson also put his signature to H.B. 106, which establishes tougher sanctions
for truant students and their parents. The lax state laws until now governing
truancy, which the governor called "one of the most serious problems our
schools face today," has often come under fire by McKinley County public
school officials, who have made the connection between truancy and academic
success.
The law allows children's courts to suspend the driver's licenses of students
who rack up more than nine unexcused absences in a school year, and means potential
fines and jail time for parents who are found accountable for their children's
absences.
He also signed a bilingual education law, S.B. 471, sponsored by Sen. Leonard
Tsosie, D-Crownpoint. The bill requires school districts to incorporate the
language students inherit from their families including Native American languages
into
their bilingual education programs.
Richardson said the new law calls for specialized training for teachers to
implement its requirement, and holds school districts accountable for their
students' academic
success in both English and their native language.
H.B. 304, meanwhile, addresses the lack of funding behind the federal No Child
Left Behind Act that states and school districts across the country have complained
of by establishing a pay scale for educational assistants to compensate them
for the professional development the federal law requires of them. The bill
establishes minimum salaries for assistants based on their level of education.
The governor also signed H.B. 522, which will require high school students
to prepare annual "next step" plans outlining their path toward graduation.
S.B. 138, meanwhile, will restrict the education department to administering
just one state standardized assessment test to students each year in grades
three through nine by 2005.
|
Weekend
March 6 , 2004
Selected Stories:
Suit
alleges school official is a racist
HRI
president defends uranium mining process
Chinle
students ROC steady!
A
chicken in every pot?
Psst...Need a ride?
Richardson
signs several education bills
Cattlemen want to beef up sales
Deaths
|
