Committee approves bill directing PED to compile list of recent non-graduates for reengagement programs

Senate Finance Committee advanced a bill that would require the Public Education Department (PED) to create, each summer, a list of students who were enrolled in high school in any of the previous four years and did not graduate within four years.

Sponsor Senator Trujillo told the committee New Mexico’s graduation rate has remained about 75–80% since 2016, leaving roughly 6,000 students per year without a diploma. The proposed list would be available to the Higher Education Department, postsecondary institutions, school districts, charter schools and New Mexico–based adult education and workforce programs to aid recruitment into reengagement, high-school-equivalency and workforce-credential programs.

“Every year, we implement programming that provide pathways for our students who may not have graduated from high school,” Trujillo said. He and his witnesses explained that programs currently lack a centralized roster of eligible students for outreach and enrollment. The bill requires PED to pull the data after the end of the school year; the sponsor said the department would generate the list July 15 to ensure graduates are excluded and non‑graduates captured.

Public testimony included Wayne Adebayo of New Mexico Kids Can, who said the list would help identify students “that our schools are not currently serving well.” The sponsor also brought Carrie Robin Brunder from Public Charter Schools of New Mexico as an expert witness for technical questions. Committee members asked about the ages of students on the list; Trujillo said the list would include students who are roughly 18 to 22 years old if they attended any one of the previous four years but did not graduate within four.

Senators moved and seconded a do-pass recommendation; the committee reported the bill forward with a 7-0 vote.