Los Alamos Reporter

Antonio Jaurigue: Legislative Session And Extended Learning Proposals

School Board President Antonio Jaurigue/Photo Courtesy LAPS

BY ANTONIO JAURIGUE
President
Los Alamos Public Schools Board

As many readers know, our state is in the tail-end of this year’s legislative session.  With that, there are some bills I believe the public should be aware of.  There are 3 bills introduced that have the potential to impact the burden of our teachers and students.  Below is a summary of the bills in FIGURE 1

The Executive bill is not gaining traction due to it’s similarity to the other two bills and is likely to be dropped.  The other two bills in FIGURE 1 are moving along and now sitting before their opposing committee.  

The Legislative Education Studies Committee (LESC) bill is House Bill 130 (HB130), titled K-12 Plus Program.  The details on the bill can be found HERE, including a link to the PDF of the bill text, the history of the bill, as well as a link to the committee currently reviewing the bill.  The key takeaways of HB130 are:

  • It increased the minimum hours of a school year instructional time to 1140 hours, with the added requirement to exceed 180 days in order to receive funding to meet this change.  
  • It includes 60 hours of professional work for the staff that can count towards the 1140 hour requirement
  • It expands the definition of “instructional time” that counts towards the 1140 requirement.  

Similarly, the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) bill is HB194, titled Public School Finance Changes.  Like before, the link to the bill and amplifying information can be found HERE with a PDF of the bill text, the history of the bill, and committee information currently reviewing the bill. Key takeaways of HB194 are:

  • It increased the minimum hours of a school year instructional time to 1140 hours, with the added requirement to exceed 180 days in order to receive funding to meet this change. Days beyond 190 receive additional funding.   
  • It includes a requirement for 80 hours of professional work that are to be in addition to the 1140 hour required. 
  • It keeps the current definition of instructional time.  

As you can see, the biggest difference is the requirement in HB194 for professional work, which includes prep time, professional development, as well as other non instructional obligations, to be added in addition to the increase in instructional time/days.  There is also the minor difference in funding between the two bills.  

Now the tricky part is that these bills are still being reviewed, edited, and referred to other committees before they hit the house floor.  Currently, they are sitting before the opposing bill’s authoring committee.  This allow for some merging or changing of the original bills intent.  

This is where you can have an impact.  You can email or call the committee members office and voice your opinion on the bills in question, whether they should be altered, remain the same, or even supported at all.  

I hope this is helpful and provides some information on this particular process, but that it also allows for you to make your voice heard.  

Figure 1