New Mexico Statutes
Article 8 - Public School Finance
Section 22-8-23 - Size adjustment program units.

A. An approved public school, including a charter 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 but not limited to 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:
(1) for fiscal year 2020, eighty percent of the sum of elementary-junior high units and senior high units as prescribed in Subsection A of this section;
(2) for fiscal year 2021, sixty percent of the sum of elementary-junior high units and senior high units as prescribed in Subsection A of this section;
(3) for fiscal year 2022, forty percent of the sum of elementary-junior high units and senior high units as prescribed in Subsection A of this section;
(4) for fiscal year 2023, twenty percent of the sum of elementary-junior high units and senior high units as prescribed in Subsection A of this section; and
(5) for fiscal year 2024 and subsequent fiscal years, no elementary-junior high units and senior high units as prescribed in Subsection A of this section.
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, as defined in Subsection R of Section 22-1-2 NMSA 1978, 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.
E. A school district with a rural population rate greater than forty percent or a charter school initially chartered before July 1, 2018 and geographically located in a school district with a rural population rate greater than forty percent is eligible for additional program units. The number of additional program units to which a school district or charter school is entitled pursuant to this subsection is determined by multiplying the full-time-equivalent MEM by the rural population rate and the cost differential factor of 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.
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.
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.

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