Committee advances bill to create summer list of out‑of‑cohort nongraduates for reengagement programs

Sponsors and witnesses told the House Education Committee Senate Bill 480 would create a targeted recruitment tool for programs that help students who left high school without a diploma.

"This list would be available for higher education, public post‑secondary institutions, school districts and charter schools, and New Mexico based adult basic education providers or workforce development programs," a sponsor told the committee, describing the bill's central requirement that PED compile a list each summer of students who were in high school in any of the previous four years and did not graduate within those four years.

Representative Sarah Silva, a co‑sponsor, said the bill focuses on young people who are disconnected from school and work. Committee testimony highlighted the scale of the problem: "The graduation rate in New Mexico has hovered between 75–80% since 2016," the sponsor said, adding that a typical cohort is about 30,000 students and roughly 6,000 do not graduate within four years.

Supporters described the list as a practical step to connect existing reengagement programs with specific students. Carrie Bruner of Public Charter Schools of New Mexico told the committee, "This is not a charter school bill. This actually came out of a brainstorming session ... one of the things came up was, well, right now, we kinda have to do blanket advertising because we don't have a specific list of students that we can go to to say a warm reach out."

Witnesses and members pressed on implementation details. Representative Mirabal Moya asked whether July 15 is a realistic reporting date given summer-school activity; the committee heard from Greg Frost, assistant secretary of education at the Public Education Department, that PED still collects end‑of‑year data in July and that the agency would require memoranda of understanding (MOUs) before sharing protected student data. "We are still collecting NOVA data, in July. So there, that's an issue," Frost said, and added that MOUs for protected data sharing "may take some time."

Committee members raised privacy concerns tied to FERPA and directory information. A sponsor and witnesses explained that directory data (name, address, phone number) can be released under FERPA but PED would require data‑sharing agreements to restrict use. "Under FERPA, directory information is already something that is permissible to share," a sponsor said, and the sponsor added PED would "put extra guardrails around that information by requiring a data sharing agreement with any entity that requests it."

Lawmakers also asked which entities could grant diplomas and how shared accountability affects graduation credit when students move across schools. The sponsor said only accredited New Mexico district or charter schools that can grant diplomas would be eligible to enroll students who are recruited from the list; equivalency or workforce credentials would not change a school's graduation rate unless the student earned a diploma. The bill was described as limited to New Mexico entities to prioritize reinvestment in the state's programs.

After an extended question-and-answer session on privacy, timing and program capacity, Representative Collins moved and Representative Garrett seconded a do-pass recommendation. The motion passed in committee with no recorded opposition in the hearing transcript.

Supporters urged the committee to advance the bill so reengagement and workforce programs can more effectively recruit and serve students who left school without a diploma. Critics and cautious members asked PED and sponsors to address timing (July 15), MOUs, FERPA protections, and whether earlier intervention (for example, reporting at the end of sophomore year) might produce stronger results.