Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D-Las Cruces) proposes a bill to require university regents complete 10 hours of training within six months of being appointed.
The Senate Education Committee advanced a bill Friday morning that would require new university regents to complete training within months of their appointment.
Senate Bill 19, presented by cosponsor Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D-Las Cruces), was given a do-pass by the Senate Education Committee on an 8-0 vote. The bill would require new university and special school regents and members of governing boards of community colleges complete 10 hours of training within six months of being appointed.
“Our university regents have very important jobs. They hire university presidents, they set tuition, they set priorities, they decide on infrastructure, they really chart the direction and run a university and sadly, we have no qualifications for regents who are selected,” Steinborn said to the committee. “I think we owe it to our universities and our kids and taxpayers that we have the best regents we can get and that they’re trained.”
Steinborn added that the bill is modeled after Senate Bill 137, presented and signed into law during the 2024 Legislative Session, which requires school board members to complete 10 hours of mandatory training during their first year of serving on the board.
Cedric Page, professor emeritus at the University of New Mexico-Los Alamos and regent for the New Mexico Military Institute, spoke in favor of the bill, saying the training will ensure regents “really understand the leadership responsibilities” involved in the position.
The bill will be heard next by the Senate Rules Committee.
Senate Bill 13, the State-Tribal Education Compact Schools Act, was also passed through the Senate Education Committee Friday morning by a vote of 9-0. Speakers from Taos, Acoma, Isleta, Ohkay Owingeh, San Felipe, Zuni, Jemez and Santa Ana pueblos spoke on its behalf, as did representatives from the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, Public Charter Schools of New Mexico, Transform Education NM and NM Native Vote.
The proposal would make it possible for Native tribes and nations to enter into compacts with the Public Education Department to establish cultural schools where young students start their educational careers fully immersed in their Native language. Bill sponsor Sen. Benny Shendo (D-Jemez Pueblo) previously told Source NM that the goal of the bill is to help preserve Native languages in New Mexico.
“Language is not only a tool for communication, it is the foundation of identity, culture and self determination. Senate bill (13) takes a significant step towards addressing these systemic inequities by creating these compact schools, which will provide tribes with greater autonomy to design and implement educational models that our students called for,” Loretta Trujillo, executive director of Transform Education NM, said during the meeting.
State lawmaker proposes bill to create cultural schools to preserve Native languages
Committee member Sen. Anthony Thornton (R-Albuquerque), however, voiced concern over the possible “vulcanization” of the state’s school system.
“If I were to replace all the language in this (bill) with African-American students, then we were to create our separate schools and then some German-Americans decided they wanted the same thing and they had the same sort of thing. My concern here, and I know this is sort of way off the, pardon my pun, off the reservation, but the question I’m having is understanding the needs. My concern is that this separates the schoolchildren or the children in your community possibly from the rest of society. And then how does that, how do they overcome that going forward?” Thornton asked.
Bill sponsor Sen. Benny Shendo (D-Jemez Pueblo) used himself as an example, as someone who grew up only speaking Jemez.
“I was born and raised in Jemez, didn’t speak a word of English and here I am with you today,” Shendo said.
SB 13 will be heard next by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
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