New Mexico — school discipline
- The lines the state draws
- New Mexico defines each removal in the rule's own definitions. ""Immediate removal" means the removal of a student from school for one school day or less under emergency conditions and without a prior hearing." ""In-school suspension" means requiring a student to spend time in a designated area at the same school or in an environment where the student is allowed to continue with their academic learning." ""Long-term suspension" means the removal of a student from school for a specified time exceeding either 10 school days or a locally established shorter period." (6.11.2.7 NMAC) The rule frames the whole scheme as a property-right question and states its own floor: "The right to a public education is a property right which may only be denied where school authorities have adhered to the minimum procedural safeguards required to afford the student due process of law. This section prescribes minimum requirements for detention, in-school suspension, and temporary, long-term or permanent removal of students from public schools. Local school boards may adopt procedures which afford students more protection than this rule requires." (6.11.2.12 NMAC)
- Offices and appeal bodies in these sources
- New Mexico separates three roles by name — a hearing authority, a disciplinarian, and a review authority — and states how they interact. "The same person or group may perform the functions of hearing authority and disciplinarian. Where the functions are divided, the hearing authority's determination of the facts shall be conclusive to the disciplinarian, but the disciplinarian may reject any consequence(s) recommended by the hearing authority." On review: "Unless the local school board provides otherwise, a review authority shall have discretion to modify or overrule the disciplinarian's decision, but may not impose harsher consequences." All three are subject to a stated disqualification: "No person shall act as hearing authority, disciplinarian, or review authority in a case where the person was directly involved in or witnessed the incident(s) in question, or if the person has prejudged disputed facts or is biased for or against any person who will actively participate in the proceedings." (6.11.2.12 NMAC, G(4)(a)–(c)) The formal hearing runs on a two-sided clock: it "shall be scheduled no sooner than five nor later than 10 school days from the date of receipt of the notice by the parent(s)." (6.11.2.12 NMAC, G(4)(g))
No state office, phone number, or email for parents appears in the sources; that absence is the finding. - Sources last checked
- Aug 30, 2026
Reproduced from the state's own rule quoted below: potentially relevant official sources, not a determination of which one governs any situation.
This page assembles what New Mexico publishes in rule about K-12 school discipline. This is a baseline docket page: the governing rule, the lines the state draws, and the decision-makers and hearing rights, quoted with dates. The full sections (the framework route by route, the four hoisted process rows, every stated timeline, the district delegation map, and records access) follow as the discipline layer deepens behind its breadth sprint; the change log states exactly what is not yet captured. Before a temporary suspension the rule requires what it calls a rudimentary hearing, and then describes it in unusual detail — including what the school need not do: "A student facing temporary suspension shall be granted a rudimentary hearing in which the student shall first be informed of the charges against the student and, if the student denies them, shall be told what evidence supports the charge(s) and be given an opportunity to present the student's version of the facts." That hearing "may be an informal discussion and may follow immediately after the notice of the charges is given", and a suspension "may be imposed within minutes after the alleged misconduct has occurred" unless a delay is essential. The rule then states the limit on the school's discretion over evidence: "The administrative authority is not required to divulge the identity of informants, although the administrative authority should not withhold such information without good cause. The administrative authority is required to disclose the substance of all evidence on which the administrative authority proposes to base a decision in the matter". And it says plainly what is not owed at this stage: "the administrative authority is not required to allow the student to secure counsel, to confront or cross-examine witnesses supporting the charge(s), or to call witnesses to verify the student's version of the incident, but none of these is prohibited". (6.11.2.12 NMAC, D(2)) After an immediate removal the clocks are short: a rudimentary hearing "shall follow as soon as possible", students "shall be reinstated after no more than one school day unless within that time a temporary suspension is also imposed after the required rudimentary hearing", and if the school has not reached the parent by telephone or in person by the end of the following school day, "the school shall on that day mail a written notice with the required information to the parent's address of record." (6.11.2.12 NMAC, C) One provision a family should not learn late: "A student who has been validly expelled or suspended is not entitled to receive any educational services from the local school district during the period of the exclusion from school. A local school board may provide alternative arrangements, including correspondence courses at the expense of the student or parent(s) pursuant to department requirements, if the local school board deems such arrangements appropriate." (6.11.2.12 NMAC, G(2)) Where a decision runs past a temporary suspension, the student comes back in the meantime: "where a decision following the required formal hearing is delayed beyond the end of the temporary suspension, the student shall be returned to school pending the final outcome" unless stated exceptions apply. (6.11.2.12 NMAC, G(1)) The processes themselves are the local board's to establish, and the rule says so twice — each board "shall establish, or shall authorize appropriate administrative authorities to establish, appropriate processes for handling long-term suspensions and expulsions." That delegation, and the board's freedom to give students more protection than the rule requires, will anchor the full page's delegation map. For a student with an IEP or Section 504 plan, the disability layer lives on this site's New Mexico special education page; this rule states that its discipline section "does not apply to long-term suspension or expulsion of students with disabilities pursuant to the IDEA or Section 504. The procedures for long-term suspension or expulsion of students with disabilities are set forth in Section 6.11.2.11 NMAC." (6.11.2.12 NMAC, B) Confirm applicability with the district or charter school and the agencies. All dates on this page are quoted from the sources, not a deadline calculation performed for you.
Source map
| Document | Location | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| 6.11.2 NMAC (rights and responsibilities of the public schools and public school students) | srca.nm.gov | rule states an effective date of August 25, 2020, unless a later date is cited at the end of a section; retrieved Aug 30, 2026 |
| Sections 22-2-1, 22-2-2 and 22-5-4.12 NMSA 1978 (the statutory authority the rule recites) | cited in 6.11.2.3 NMAC | capture pending |
| Section 22-8-2 NMSA 1978, Section 10-15-1 et seq. (Open Meetings Act), and the Attendance for Success Act | cited in 6.11.2.12 and 6.11.2.7 NMAC | capture pending |
| Public Education Department guidance on student discipline | — | not located in this review; capture pending |
| Local school board processes for long-term suspensions and expulsions, and any policies affording more protection than the rule | each board, per 6.11.2.12 NMAC, G(3) | never captured; the full page's delegation map will point at them |
Change log
Aug 30, 2026 · Baseline page created (discipline-layer breadth sprint). Captured first-party under recipe tools/recipes/new-mexico-discipline.json: 6.11.2 NMAC from the State Records Center and Archives. Findings recorded: (1) New Mexico carries the operative scheme in Public Education Department rule rather than in statute, and the rule states its own effective date, which most sources in this collection do not; (2) the rule frames public education as a property right and states that it prescribes minimum requirements only, with local boards free to afford more protection — an express floor rather than a ceiling; (3) the rudimentary hearing before a temporary suspension is described in more detail than any comparable provision captured so far, including an explicit statement of what the school is not required to do — no counsel, no confrontation or cross-examination, no calling of witnesses — paired with a requirement to disclose the substance of all evidence the decision will rest on; (4) three roles are named and separated — hearing authority, disciplinarian, and review authority — with the hearing authority's factual findings binding on the others, a review authority barred from imposing harsher consequences, and all three disqualified for involvement, witness status, prejudgment, or bias; (5) the formal hearing has a two-sided clock, no sooner than five and no later than 10 school days from the parent's receipt of notice, which is the only floor-and-ceiling hearing window captured so far; (6) an immediate removal lasts no more than one school day unless a temporary suspension follows a rudimentary hearing; (7) the rule states that a validly expelled or suspended student "is not entitled to receive any educational services" during the exclusion, with alternatives at the board's option and potentially at the family's expense — the sharpest statement on services during removal in this collection, and recorded exactly as the state states it; (8) no state office or parent contact appears in the sources. Capture note: the part page declares charset=windows-1252 and lays its text out with 0xA0 indent runs, so the recipe names that encoding; decoded as UTF-8 those bytes arrive as replacement characters. This is the second state in this batch to need it, after Nevada, which is what prompted adding the declared encoding field to capture.py. Not yet built, pending the deepening pass: sections 01–02 (framework, hoisted rows, timelines), the district delegation map, and records access. Internet Archive captures: to be added. Reviewer: Carrie Schluter, reviewed 2026-08-30. Corrections on the record in this log: hello@fieldassembly.net.