2019 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 22 - Public Schools
Article 10A - School Personnel Act
Section 22-10A-19 - Teachers and school principals; accountability; evaluations; sick leave; professional development; peer intervention; mentoring.
A. The department shall adopt criteria and minimum highly objective uniform statewide standards of evaluation for the annual performance evaluation of licensed school employees. The professional development plan for teachers shall include documentation on how a teacher who receives professional development that has been required or offered by the state or a school district or charter school incorporates the results of that professional development in the classroom.
B. The local superintendent shall adopt policies, guidelines and procedures for the performance evaluation process. Evaluation by other school employees shall be one component of the evaluation tool for school administrators. A teacher's use of personal leave and up to ten days of sick leave shall not affect that teacher's annual performance evaluation; provided that the leave is used consistently with the policy of the local school board or the governing body of the charter school that employs that teacher. An annual performance evaluation may reflect the lowest score with respect to teacher attendance for a teacher who is determined by a school district or charter school to be using sick leave days in a manner inconsistent with a local school board policy, charter school governing council policy, administrative regulation or an applicable collective bargaining agreement.
C. As part of the highly objective uniform statewide standard of evaluation for teachers, the school principal shall observe each teacher's classroom practice to determine the teacher's ability to demonstrate state-adopted competencies.
D. At the beginning of each school year, teachers and school principals shall devise professional development plans for the coming year, and performance evaluations shall be based in part on how well the professional development plan was carried out.
E. If a level two or three-A teacher's performance evaluation indicates less than satisfactory performance and competency, the school principal may require the teacher to undergo peer intervention, including mentoring, for a period the school principal deems necessary. If the teacher is unable to demonstrate satisfactory performance and competency by the end of the period, the peer interveners may recommend termination of the teacher.
F. At least every two years, school principals shall attend a training program approved by the department to improve their evaluation, administrative and instructional leadership skills.
History: 1978 Comp., § 22-10A-19, enacted by Laws 2003, ch. 153, § 50; 2010, ch. 107, § 1; 2019, ch. 12, §1.
ANNOTATIONSCross references. — For references of the former state board of education, see 9-24-15 NMSA 1978.
The 2019 amendment, effective June 14, 2019, provided that a teacher's use of personal leave and up to ten days of sick leave shall not affect the teacher's annual performance evaluation, provided that the leave is used consistently with policies of the local school board or charter school governing body; in the heading, added "sick leave"; and in Subsection B, added the last two sentences.
The 2010 amendment, effective May 19, 2010, in Subsection A, after "The", changed "state board" to "department", and added the second sentence; designated the former second paragraph of Subsection A as Subsection B; and relettered the succeeding subsections accordingly.
Structure for teacher evaluation program is within the discretion of the secretary of public education department. — The legislature has delegated broad authority to the secretary of public education to define how teachers will be evaluated, so long as evaluations are highly objective and uniform statewide. State ex rel. Stapleton v. Skandera, 2015-NMCA-044.
Where the secretary of the public education department (secretary) implemented new regulations governing the evaluation of teachers in public schools, and where Subsection A of this section requires the public education department to adopt criteria and minimum highly objective uniform statewide standards of evaluation for the annual performance evaluation of licensed school employees, the secretary was acting within her statutory authority and exercising her discretion under the statute as long as the teacher evaluation program was objective and uniform; the district court did not err in denying the petition for a writ of mandamus. State ex rel. Stapleton v. Skandera, 2015-NMCA-044.
Department regulation does not violate the public school code. — Where Subsection A of this section requires the department to adopt uniform statewide standards of evaluation for the annual performance evaluation of licensed school employees, and where the public education department's regulation for evaluation of teachers exempted district-authorized charter schools, the department's regulation did not violate this section because under Section 22-8B-5 NMSA 1978, of the public school code, the legislature expressly exempted charter schools from the public school code's provisions related to teacher evaluations. State ex rel. Stapleton v. Skandera, 2015-NMCA-044.
Where Subsection C of this section requires principals to observe each teacher in the classroom as part of the highly objective uniform statewide standard of evaluation for teachers, and where the public education department's regulation for evaluation of teachers required "school leaders" to observe instructional practice of teachers as part of a teacher evaluation program and where "school leaders" includes both principals and assistant principals, the department's regulation did not violate Subsection C of this section because the regulation did not relieve principals of their statutory duty to observe each teacher's performance. State ex rel. Stapleton v. Skandera, 2015-NMCA-044.
