Members of the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee recently discussed public school capital outlay formula issues that will likely require action in the upcoming 60-day legislative session in January, including issues with online learning and instructional time.
LFC Principal Fiscal Analyst Sunny Liu told committee members July 23 during the committee’s meeting in Red River that the state could face another budget shortfall if online students move between districts, as happened last year in Gallup. That $35 million shortfall in that situation prompted lawmakers to pass several bills during the 2026 session that temporarily halted how distance learning units are calculated by the current funding formula and allowed the state an opportunity to recoup the funds.
However, the funding formula reverts back to normal in the next fiscal year. The LFC report outlined several options for lawmakers, including permanently adjusting the formula to prevent duplicate funding units and clearly defining when distance learning is an appropriate option, particularly when a program would serve a student outside their district’s geographic boundary.
“We want to ensure that these programs are the student’s best option, not the first option,” Liu said during the meeting. “And we want to make sure that there’s some accountability for performance because, at the end of the day, that’s what our constitutional obligation is, to ensure that these kids have the best education available to them.”
The LFC report also noted discrepancies in additional state funds districts receive for increasing instructional time through the K12+ Program, implemented in 2023. According to a Legislative Education Study Committee Report presented to lawmakers last month, local districts have “largely failed to increase instructional time.” That’s despite the state investing $2.6 billion in extended learning since the initial 2018 findings in the Yazzie/Martinez education equity case, which found that at-risk students require additional learning time.
The LFC report also notes that schools participating in the K12+ Program have only added an average of three instructional days to their calendars since 2018, but have collected about $175 million in additional state funding. Two-thirds of the program funding is for professional development time, the report notes, when students are not in class.
Liu added that the state is seeing a trend of more schools switching from a five-day school week to a four-day school week, which allows them to more easily meet the threshold to qualify for K12+ funds. The LFC report notes that since 2024, 23 districts have switched to four-day weeks.
“The point of adding more time is to give kids who need the time additional opportunities to catch up. If we’re not intentional about how we approach this, you might be inadvertently creating a larger gap,” Liu said. He added that research has shown that when high-performing students from high-income communities receive more instructional time, they grow even faster. “How do you make sure that time is being used effectively for the kids who need it the most?”
Public Education Department Secretary Mariana Padilla pointed out to LFC members that the question is not over the merits of five-day instructional weeks versus four-day weeks, but what schools are doing with that time and the results so far from the state’s investment.
“I don’t care if you spend 365 days in that classroom. If you’re not teaching that kid anything, it ain’t doing any good,” Sen. Steve Lanier (R-Farmington) said during the meeting. “I would rather us focus on what’s going on in that classroom, what that teacher is doing, holding parents, students, administration, school boards, all accountable for what’s going on in those classrooms.”
