A hearing has been scheduled for June 18 in a lawsuit between New Mexico school districts and the state’s Public Education Department, to determine whether outside parties can participate in the case.
The controversial issue at the heart of the case is a new PED requirement that all schools in the state have students in class for 180 days. Plaintiffs say this would create economic and other hardships for those with a current four-day school week.
District Court Judge Dustin K. Hunter in Roswell will hear motions from two organizations and three state legislators looking to join the case as “amici curiae,” Latin for “friends of the court.” The term refers to parties that are not directly involved in the case, but have information or expertise that would address legal issues in the matter.
The New Mexico School Boards Association and American Federation of Teachers New Mexico, along with state Reps. Candy Spence Ezzell and Jared Hembree and state Sen. Greg Niber filed the motions.
Court records show that Hunter has also set July 2 as the date for hearing motions for summary judgment — which seek a decision in favor of the filing party without a full trial — though none have been filed as of May 21.
“It is not usual for judges to go ahead and set a hearing for motions that the parties have indicated they will be filing in the coming weeks,” said Barry Massey, a spokesperson for the New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts.
Underlying Lawsuit
The New Mexico School Superintendents Association, along with dozens of school districts and charter schools, sued the PED in March. The basis of the lawsuit was that the department failed to adequately consider the rule’s impact on rural schools and on those that operate on a four-day school week.
The plaintiffs argued that the rule conflicts with state statutes that establish the minimum number of instructional hours. For schools on a four-day week, which have longer school days, that translates to 155 days of instruction.
In mid-May, Hunter issued an injunction preventing the department from enforcing the rule until the case is decided.
Reaction
Two Albuquerque charter schools have indicated they won’t make changes because of the injunction.
Erik Bose, executive director of ABQ Charter Academy, said earlier his school is planning for now to move ahead with its PED-compliant 2024-2025 academic calendar. The academy will maintain a four-day week and remove some breaks. School will start July 23 — 46 days after the current school year ends.
Beth Dorado, executive director of Gordon Bernell Charter School, said in an interview with City Desk ABQ that the school will stick with its changed calendar, which expands the school week to a fifth day. She told City Desk ABQ that Gordon Bernell is a district charter authorized by Albuquerque Public Schools, meaning its own board and the APS Board of Education would have to approve calendar changes.
“It would cause significant strife to change our calendar with APS this late in the year,” she said.
Dorado said Gordon Bernell is making the best of the once-mandated change.
“While not all of the GBCS community is pleased with our new five-day (school year) ‘25 calendar, the additional days do provide opportunities for optional instructional programming and the implementation of professional learning communities to increase staff collaboration and engage in continuous cycles of inquiry and action to improve student outcomes,” she said.