N.M. Stat. § 22-4-2 (2026)

A. The state board [department] may order the creation of a new school district:

      (1)    upon receipt of and according to a resolution requesting the creation of the
new school district by the local school board of the existing school district;

       (2)     after review by the local school board and upon receipt of a petition
bearing signatures verified by the county clerk of the affected area of sixty percent of
the registered voters residing within the geographic area desiring creation of a new
school district; or

       (3)   upon recommendation of the state superintendent [secretary] and upon a
determination by the state board [department] that creation of a new district would meet
the standards set forth in Subsection B of this section.

   B. Within ninety days of receipt of the local school board resolution, receipt of the
voters' petition or receipt of a recommendation by the state superintendent [secretary],
the state board [department] shall conduct a public hearing to determine whether:

      (1)   the existing school district and the new school district to be created will
each have a minimum membership of five hundred;

       (2)    a high school program is to be taught in the existing school district and in
the new school district to be created unless an exception is granted to this requirement
by the state board [department]; and

       (3)    creating the new school district is in the best interest of public education in
the existing school district and in the new school district to be created and in the best
interest of public education in the state.

History: 1953 Comp., § 77-3-2, enacted by Laws 1967, ch. 16, § 15; 1981, ch. 26, § 1;
1993, ch. 235, § 1.

                                     ANNOTATIONS

Bracketed material. — The bracketed material was inserted by the compiler and is not
part of the law.

Laws 2004, ch. 25, § 27, provided that all references to the superintendent of public
instruction shall be deemed references to the secretary of public education and all
references to the former state board of education or state department of education shall
be deemed references to the public education department. See 9-24-15 NMSA 1978.
Cross references. — For current powers and duties of the former state board of
education, see 9-24-9 NMSA 1978.

For references to the former state board, see 9-24-15 NMSA 1978.

For contents and publication of order creating new school district, see 22-4-10 and 22-
4-11 NMSA 1978.

For interim school board of newly created district, see 22-4-12 NMSA 1978.

For election of local school board for newly created district, see 22-4-13 and 22-4-14
NMSA 1978.

The 1993 amendment, effective June 18, 1993, added the subsection designation "A"
at the beginning of the section; deleted "within an existing school district" at the end of
the introductory paragraph of Subsection A; inserted the paragraph designations (1) and
(2) and added Paragraph (3) in Subsection A; deleted "after a hearing to be held within
ninety (90) days after filing of petition by the state board to determine that" at the end of
Paragraph (2) of Subsection A; added the introductory paragraph of current Subsection
B; redesignated former Subsections A to C as Paragraphs (1) to (3) of Subsection B;
and made minor stylistic changes in Subsection A.

Secretary of education may create a new school district. — Under N.M. Const. art.
XII, § 6, as amended in 2003, the secretary of education has legal authority to order the
creation of a new school district and to order a school district to convey by deed all right,
title and interest in school-owned realty located in the proposed boundary of the new
school district to the new school district. If the transferred property is encumbered, the
school district that incurred the indebtedness remains liable on the debt. 2010 Op. Att'y
Gen. No. 10-01.