New Mexico eyes overhaul of HS graduation requirements

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — High schoolers in New Mexico could one day need fewer class-unit credits to get their diploma, as state legislators began to overhaul graduation requirements Tuesday for consideration by lawmakers in early 2023.

New Mexico has gone about 20 years since the last comprehensive overhaul of high school graduation requirements, legislative officials said.

Separately, an extra $261 million might be spent each year on K-12 schools because of a possible expansion of the minimum annual instruction time next school year, according to a proposal from the state Public Education Department. It also suggested a 4% raise for teachers and school personnel at an additional annual cost of $109 million.

Democratic state Rep. Andrés Romero — who is also a high school teacher in Albuquerque — said he’ll work as the lead sponsor on the overhaul bill. Changes such as getting rid of algebra II as a graduation requirement could open up space in high school curriculums for subjects like statistics and probabilities, which are seen as increasingly relevant to college and career preparation.

In all, high school students would be required to complete 22 full-credit classes or equivalent partial-credit courses, down from current requirement of 24.

That’s still slightly higher than the national average for course requirements before high school graduation, according to Gwen Perea Warniment, director of the legislature’s oversight agency for public education.

State law would continue to require four credits for math while waiving algebra II and opening up opportunities for courses tailored more closely to college and career ambitions, including computer science.

The proposed changes would eliminate a half-credit requirement for New Mexico-specific social studies — but weave those lessons into required coursework for U.S. history.

Warniment said the drafted proposal is the culmination of two years of deliberations involving superintendents, school board members, parent-teacher associations and more.

Lawmakers are also contemplating a possible increase in the minimum number of instructional hours per academic year.

Under the proposal, a variety of school activities could count toward that time requirement, including student-teacher conferences, classwork during in-school breakfasts and up to 60 hours of professional development for teachers.

“I think I might like it,” said Republican state Sen. Craig Brandt of Rio Rancho, at a public hearing by a legislative panel. “We’re adding instructional hours but we’re actually changing the definition to make it more flexible for the (school) district on how to use those instructional hours.”

Related bill are likely to be introduced in January as legislators convene a 60-day session. Proposed changes to high school graduation requirements could take effect as soon as the 2024-25 school year.

The nonpartisan advocacy group Think New Mexico is urging the state to expand high school requirements for financial literacy as well as civics and foreign-language instruction.

Romero said lessons on personal finances are already taught more widely than many people may realize under current standards for economics instruction.

The state Council of University Presidents has cautioned in recent years that a reduction in high school class requirements, including algebra, could adversely affect college readiness and increase the need for remedial studies.

Separately, New Mexico is relaxing requirements for some high school students by eliminating the need to pass standardized tests as a way to demonstrate they’re ready to graduate, the Public Education Department announced last week.

Those changes apply to students on track to graduate in 2024. While the students still must take the tests, their scores won’t serve as a measure of whether they’re eligible to graduate.

New Mexico’s statewide graduation rate of nearly 77% in 2021 was among the lowest in the nation.