N.M. Stat. » Chapter 22 — Public Schools
New Mexico Statutes

N.M. Stat. § 22-16-2 (2026)

State transportation division; duties

✓ laws through the 2025 session (retrieved May 2026)
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Subject to the policies of the state board [department], the state transportation division of the department of education [public education department] shall:

A. establish standards for school bus transportation;

B. establish standards for school bus design and operation pursuant to provisions of Section 22-16-11 NMSA 1978;

C. establish procedures pertaining to the resolution of transportation issues in areas where local school districts are engaged in school district boundary disputes;

D. enforce those regulations adopted by the state board [department] relating to school bus transportation;

E. audit records of school bus contractors or school district-owned bus operations in accordance with regulations promulgated by the state transportation director;

F. establish standards and certify for safety, vehicles that are defined as school buses by the Motor Vehicle Code [Articles 1 to 8 of Chapter 66 [except 66-7-102.1] NMSA 1978]; and G. establish regulations for the purpose of permitting commercial advertisements on school buses.

History: 1953 Comp., § 77-14-2, enacted by Laws 1967, ch. 16, § 220; 1975, ch. 342, § 3; 1976 (S.S.), ch. 20, § 3; 1978, ch. 200, § 2; 1978, ch. 211, § 15; 1979, ch. 53, § 1; 1979, ch. 305, § 5; 1993, ch. 226, § 46; 1995, ch. 208, § 5; 1997, ch. 233, § 2.

ANNOTATIONS

Cross references. — For divisions of the public education department, see 9-24-4 NMSA 1978.

For transfer of powers and duties of the former state board and former department of education, see 9-24-15 NMSA.

For provisions relating to financing of public school bus transportation generally, see 22- 8-29 to 22-8-32 NMSA 1978.

For school bus advertisements, see 22-28-1 NMSA 1978.

For transportation of blind children to New Mexico school for visually handicapped, see 21-5-6 NMSA 1978.

For design and operation regulations for school buses, see 22-16-11 NMSA 1978.

The 1997 amendment, effective June 20, 1997, added Subsection G.

The 1995 amendment, effective July 1, 1995, inserted "provisions of" in Subsection B, rewrote Subsection C, and in Subsection F, deleted "inspect" preceding "and certify" and inserted "that are".

The 1993 amendment, effective July 1, 1993, inserted "of the department of education" in the introductory paragraph; inserted "for school bus design and operation" and substituted "22-16-11" for "66-7-365" in Subsection B; substituted "vocational and special" for "cooperative" in Paragraph (2) of Subsection C; deleted former Paragraphs (3) to (5) of Subsection C, pertaining to transportation routes to and from training centers for execptional children, early childhood education programs and state institutions under the authority of the secretary of health, making a related grammatical change; deleted former Subsection D, which read "cooperate with the director in matters relating to the financing of public school bus transportation"; resdesignated former Subsections E to G as Subsections D to F; deleted "issue and" at the beginning of Subsection D; substituted "state transportation director" for "school transportation director" in Subsection E; and substituted "the Motor Vehicle Code" for "Section 66-1-4 NMSA 1978" in Subsection F. Duty of care. — The state transportation division of the state board of education had a legal duty to establish bus stops on school bus routes, and thus owed a duty of care to a child injured in an accident while crossing a road to catch the bus to her school. Gallegos v. State Bd. of Educ., 1997-NMCA-040, 123 N.M. 362, 940 P.2d 468.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 2 cases, 1987–1997 · leading case: Gallegos v. State Bd. of Educ., 1997-NMCA-040, 940 P.2d 468.
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Gallegos v. State Bd. of Educ., 1997-NMCA-040, 940 P.2d 468. · cites it 6× “establish and approve school bus routes for the transportation of students ... to and from public schools.”
Owens ex rel. Owens v. Leavitts Freight Serv., Inc., 745 P.2d 1165 (N.M. Ct. App. 1987). · cites it 6× “Specifically, plaintiffs attempt to expand the requirements of Section 22-16-2 to permit an action in negligence under Section 41-4-5 whenever the State defendants fail to enforce their own regulations.”
N.M. Stat. § 22-16-2(C): 1 case
Gallegos v. State Bd. of Educ., 1997-NMCA-040, 940 P.2d 468. “establish and approve school bus routes for the transportation of students ... to and from public schools.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.