New Mexico Statutes
Article 8 - Public School Finance
Section 22-8-6.1 - Charter school operating budgets; maximum MEM.

A. Each state-chartered charter school shall submit to the charter schools division of the department a school-based operating budget. The operating budget shall be submitted to the division for approval or amendment pursuant to the Public School Finance Act and the Charter Schools Act [Chapter 22, Article 8B NMSA 1978]. Thereafter, the operating budget shall be submitted to the commission for review.
B. Each locally chartered charter school shall submit to the local school board a school-based operating budget for approval or amendment. The approval or amendment authority of the local school board relative to the charter school operating budget is limited to ensuring that sound fiscal practices are followed in the development of the operating budget and that the charter school operating budget is within the allotted resources. The local school board shall have no veto authority over individual line items within the charter school's proposed financial budget or over any item in the educational plan, but shall approve or disapprove the operating budget in its entirety. Upon final approval of the charter school operating budget by the local school board, the individual charter school operating budget shall be included separately in the budget submission to the department required pursuant to the Public School Finance Act and the Charter Schools Act.
C. For its first year of operation, a charter school's operating budget shall be based on the projected number of program units generated by the school and its students using the at-risk index and the staffing cost multiplier of the school district in which the charter school is located, and the charter school's operating budget shall be adjusted using the qualified MEM on the first reporting date of the current school year. For its second and subsequent fiscal years of operation, a charter school's operating budget shall be based on the number of program units generated by the charter school and its students using the average of the MEM on the second and third reporting dates of the prior year, the at-risk index of the school district in which the charter school is located and the charter school's staffing cost multiplier.
History: Laws 1993, ch. 227, § 8; 1999, ch. 281, § 22; 2006, ch. 94, § 3; 2009, ch. 213, § 1; 2010, ch. 116, § 2; 2015, ch. 108, § 4; 2018, ch. 55, § 2; 2019, ch. 206, § 9; 2019, ch. 207, § 9.
The 2019 amendment, effective June 14, 2019, clarified certain terms within the section; added "operating" preceding "budget" throughout; in Subsection B, after "financial budget", added "or over any item in the educational plan", and after "approval of the", deleted "local" and added "charter school operating"; and in Subsection C, added "charter" preceding each occurrence of "school".
Laws 2019, ch. 206, § 9, and Laws 2019, ch. 207, § 9, both effective June 14, 2019, enacted identical amendments to this section. The section was set out as amended by Laws 2019, ch. 207, § 9. 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 2018 amendment, effective July 1, 2018, revised the formula for calculating charter school budgets; in Subsection A, after the first sentence, deleted "For the first year of operation, the budget of every state-chartered charter school shall be based on the projected number of program units generated by that charter school and its students, using the at-risk index and the instructional staff training and experience index of the school district in which it is geographically located. For second and subsequent fiscal years of operation, the budgets of state-chartered charter schools shall be based on the number of program units generated using the average of the MEM on the second and third reporting dates of the prior year and its own instructional staff training and experience index and the at-risk index of the school district in which the state-chartered charter school is geographically located."; in Subsection B, after "a school-based budget", deleted "For the first year of operation, the budget of every locally chartered charter school shall be based on the projected number of program units generated by the charter school and its students, using the at-risk index and the instructional staff training and experience index of the school district in which it is geographically located. For second and subsequent fiscal years of operation, the budgets of locally chartered charter schools shall be based on the number of program units generated using the average of the MEM on the second and third reporting dates of the prior year and its own instructional staff training and experience index and the at-risk index of the school district in which the locally chartered charter school is geographically located. The budget shall be submitted to the local school board"; and in Subsection C, after "For", deleted "the" and added "its", and after "first year of operation", deleted "after a locally chartered charter school converts to a state-chartered charter school or a state-chartered charter school converts to a locally chartered charter school, the charter school's budget shall be based on the number of program units generated using the average of the MEM on the second and third reporting dates of the prior year and the instructional staff training and experience index and the at-risk index of the school district in which it is geographically located. For second and subsequent fiscal years of operation, the charter school shall follow the provisions of Subsection A or B of this section, as applicable" and added the remainder of the subsection.
The 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, required each charter school to submit its school-based budget to the public education commission for review following its submission to the charter schools division of the public education department; in Subsection A, added the last sentence; and deleted Subsection D relating to a charter school's instructional staff training and experience index.
The 2010 amendment, effective May 19, 2010, in Subsection A, in the third sentence, after "using the average of the", deleted "eightieth and one hundred twentieth day" and after "MEM", added "on the second and third reporting dates"; in Subsection B, in the third sentence, after "using the average of the", deleted "eightieth and one hundred twentieth day" and after "MEM", added "on the second and third reporting dates"; and in Subsection C, in the first sentence, after "using the average of the", deleted "eightieth and one hundred twentieth day" and after "MEM", added "on the second and third reporting dates".
Temporary provisions. — Laws 2010, ch. 116, § 9 provided that references in the Public School Code pertaining to the fortieth-day or forty-day report of public school membership or enrollment shall be deemed to be references to the first reporting date, which is the second Wednesday in October; references pertaining to the eightieth-day or eighty-day report of public school membership or enrollment shall be deemed to be references to the second reporting date, which is the second Wednesday in December; and references pertaining to the one-hundred twentieth-day or one-hundred twenty-day report of public school membership or enrollment shall be deemed to be references to the third reporting date, which is the second Wednesday in February.
As the public schools transition from former reporting dates to new reporting dates, the public education department may use any combination of former and new reporting dates as necessary to develop membership and cost projections and budgets for the 2010-2011 school year.
The 2009 amendment, effective June 19, 2009, in Subsection A, in the second sentence, after "For", deleted "fiscal year 2008, and for" and after "first year of operation", deleted "in any fiscal year thereafter"; in Subsection B, in the second sentence, after "For", deleted "fiscal year 2008, and for" and after "first year of operation", deleted "in any fiscal year thereafter" and after "program units generated", deleted "using the average of the eighteenth and one hundred twentieth day MEM of the prior year" and added "by the charter school and its students"; in the second sentence, after "shall be based on the" added "number of program units generated using the average of the eighteenth and one hundred twentieth day MEM, of the" and after "prior year" deleted "program units generated by that locally chartered charter school and its students"; and added Subsections C and D.
The 2006 amendment, effective July 1, 2007, in Subsection A, changed "charter school" to "state-chartered charter school"; changed "local school board" to "charter schools division of the department"; required budgets for every state-chartered charter school for fiscal year 2008 and the first year of operation in any fiscal year thereafter; provided for budgets for second and subsequent fiscal years and in Subsection B required locally chartered charter schools to submit budgets to local school boards and provided criteria for budgets for locally chartered charter school for fiscal year 2008 and for subsequent fiscal years.
The 1999 amendment, effective June 18, 1999, rewrote the section to the extent that a detailed comparison is impracticable.

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