Committee approves substitute to create out‑of‑cohort student directory for reengagement programs

The Senate Education Committee approved a committee substitute for Senate Bill 480 that would require the Public Education Department (PED) to produce a directory of students who were in high school in any of the immediately preceding four school years who did not graduate within that time frame. The directory would be available, upon request, to institutions and programs that serve out‑of‑cohort students — including postsecondary institutions, school districts and New Mexico‑based adult basic education and workforce programs.

Sponsor Senator Nava said the goal is to make outreach more efficient and connect dropouts or ‘out‑of‑cohort’ students with reengagement programs, high school diploma pathways, high school equivalency options and workforce credentials. “We appropriate millions of dollars… to implement programming that provides pathways for our students who may not have graduated,” Nava said, adding that a targeted list would improve recruitment and enrollment efficiency.

The committee substitute added several clarifications: the department would release only directory information as defined under FERPA (name, address, phone and dates of attendance) to comply with privacy rules; the look‑back period is the immediately preceding four school years rather than one year; the department will provide the report upon request; the list will be limited to New Mexico‑based adult basic education providers and workforce programs; and the substitute explicitly includes high‑school diploma pathways as eligible programs.

Supporters included Public Charter Schools of New Mexico, the New Mexico Independent Community Colleges and workforce groups; they said targeted outreach would help reengage students who have left school. PED staff explained concerns about protecting personally identifiable information and recommended data‑sharing agreements; the chair and sponsor noted the substitute restricts release to directory information and that a data‑sharing agreement would be appropriate for use.

The committee voted to report the committee substitute with a do‑pass recommendation; the chair announced eight yeses and one excused.

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The substitute narrows privacy concerns and is intended to provide a targeted recruitment list for programs that already serve out‑of‑cohort students; PED noted that any identifiable data release should be governed by a data‑sharing agreement.