RRPS sees instructional, health care, capital changes from legislative session

RIO RANCHO — The 2025 legislative session in Santa Fe produced a lot for Rio Rancho Public Schools officials to write home about to faculty, staff, students and parents.

The session, held from Jan. 20 to Feb. 19, brought about a 2% increase in school funding, a 1% increase in school employee pay, an increase in the district's share of health insurance premiums, and changes to literacy and math instruction — to name a few — according to a presentation officials made Monday to the Rio Rancho Public Schools Board of Education.

But the session also produced some unique ticket items, including a legislative measure to initiate a study on elementary school student screen time and a November 2026 referendum for voters to decide whether school elections should be held during partisan elections, said RRPS attorney Loren Hatch and government relations liaison Cris Balzano.

"This session felt like the longest 30 days in living memory," Hatch told the board.

Balzano, of the Albuquerque-based firm Balzano Government Relations, called the session "rough, tough and long."

Out of the 815 pieces of legislation introduced, RRPS tracked just 73 pieces of legislation but is currently reviewing only 16 to see what changes RRPS needs to make to comply with the new laws, Hatch said.

House Bill 2, the general appropriations bill, produced a "much smaller" funding increase than RRPS has previously seen, Hatch said. But the legislation has some positive provisions for RRPS, including the school district picking up 80% of employee health insurance premiums and eliminating a tiered system (House Bill 47 amended the statute to make this reform possible, Hatch said).

HB2 also provides $300,000 for math labs across numerous schools and $360,000 for solar labs at RioTECH — the career and technical education-focused high school that opened in August.

House Memorial 2 calls for a study on screen time, which has "become an important topic," Hatch said. He added that House memorials don't have the same effect that bills do, but "they can produce very important results."

Senate Bill 29 and Senate Bill 37 changed math and reading instruction provisions, respectively, both for students and licensed teachers, Hatch said.

SB29 requires teachers to get a math teaching endorsement and take at least six hours of math methods courses. K-3 students are required to take a math screening assessment, and school districts must notify parents/guardians of the results 30 days later.

SB37 mandates that the New Mexico Public Education Department adopt a reading assessment system for K-3 and requires schools to notify parents within 30 days when a student is identified with reading difficulty. PED must also assign a literacy instructional coach to elementary schools.

"These are pretty substantial changes with the way education is done in New Mexico," Hatch said.

Senate Bill 240 provided $2.6 million to RRPS to pursue infrastructure projects, with the biggest ones including $600,000 for school buses, $400,000 for a new media center at Mountain View Middle School, $350,000 to upgrade the intercom system at Vista Grande Elementary School, $200,000 for locker room revisions at Cleveland High School, and $200,000 for a new press box at Rio Rancho High School.

"We're very grateful to our delegation who allocated these funds and for the Legislature for passing them — it's about a million more than we had last year," Hatch said.

New Mexico lawmakers will host a meeting to provide a "wrap-up" of the legislative session during a public meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 26, in the RRPS board room, 500 Laser Road SE.