HB 63 New Mexico House · 2025 Regular Session

PUBLIC SCHOOL FUNDING FORMULA CHANGES

HB 63 updates New Mexico's public school funding formula to provide more resources for schools serving students from extremely/very low-income families and students learning English. It increases base funding for grades 6-12, creates a new funding unit specifically for English Learner programs, and adjusts how schools with high at-risk student populations are calculated. The bill includes a "hold harmless" provision to prevent funding cuts during implementation. These changes directly affect all public school districts and charter schools in New Mexico, particularly those with significant populations of low-income students or English Learner students.

Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Mar 2025

House Passage

Mar 2025

Senate Passage

Mar 2025

Signed into Law

Apr 2025

Introduced Jan 9, 2025 Signed Apr 9, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

introduced version → Final Version · 5 edits

MODERATE

This bill amends New Mexico's public school finance definitions and charter school budget requirements. It clarifies how student membership is counted for funding purposes, establishes new definitions for program elements, and modifies how charter schools calculate their operating budgets after the first year of operation.

Scope change

The bill expands the scope of public school funding definitions to include more specific criteria for student eligibility and adds new requirements for charter school budget submissions.

DEFINITION

Updated the definition of 'withdrawals' to exclude students who are in need of intervention or chronically absent, which affects how student membership is calculated for funding purposes.

Added new definitions for 'qualified student' with specific age and enrollment criteria, including provisions for students who have reached their second birthday during the 2019-2020 school year.

Reorganized and renumbered definitions from H through S, adding new categories for 'rural population rate', 'staffing cost multiplier', and 'state superintendent'.

REQUIREMENT

Added requirements for charter schools to submit operating budgets to the charter schools division for approval or amendment, with local school boards having limited authority over budget line items.

Added provisions for calculating at-risk index for charter schools on their membership after the first year of operation.

Floor votes · Senate Mar 21, 2025 · House Mar 4, 2025

How they voted

36–0

Passed · 4 other

Total votes 40

Mar 21, 2025

D Democratic24

23 Yea 1

95% Yea

R Republican16

13 Yea 3

81% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Apr 9, 2025

Signed into law

Signed

executive

Mar 22, 2025

Executive · Passed

House concurred in Senate amendments

executive

Mar 21, 2025

Upper · Passed

passed Senate

upper

Mar 20, 2025

Upper · Passed

DO PASS, as amended, committee report adopted

upper

Mar 10, 2025

Upper · Passed

DO PASS committee report adopted

upper

Mar 5, 2025

Introduced

Sent to Senate Education Committee & Senate Finance Committee

upper

Mar 4, 2025

Lower · Passed

passed House

lower

Mar 1, 2025

Lower · Passed

DO PASS, as amended, committee report adopted

lower

Feb 4, 2025

Lower · Passed

DO PASS, as amended, committee report adopted

lower

Jan 22, 2025

Introduced

Sent to House Education Committee & House Appropriations & Finance Committee

lower

Jan 9, 2025

Introduced

Sent to House Pre-file

lower

2 primary · 0 co-sponsors