Call or write your NM Representative or Senator. Share your thoughts about the following two bills.
This bill restores Fine Arts Education Act Funding that was inadvertently impacted by prior legislation.
This bill develops the artistic talents of New Mexico's diverse population of students. It expands the legal definition of giftedness in school to include art talent, and it requires school districts to equitably identify and serve high-abilty art students of underrepresented groups currently missing from gifted education in NM.
NMAEA Letter of Support For House Bill 130
Public Schools to Equitably Develop Artistic Talent and Potential with HB 130
When will all of New Mexico’s diverse public school students with artistic gifts begin to develop their outstanding potential in art and media? With support from House Bill 130 of the 2021 NM Legislative Session, it could be soon. The bill requires no appropriation of funding, yet contributes to the redress of educational disparities brought to new light by the landmark Yazzie/Martinez lawsuit. Introduced by Representative Christine Trujillo, the School Gifted Education Requirements or Equity and Excellence in Gifted Education bill expands New Mexico’s narrow legal definition of gifted students to include specific talents and aptitudes in various subjects, including the arts. It requires school districts to monitor and account for state gifted funding and progress toward more equitable identification racially, ethnically, socioeconomically, and linguistically. It requires best practices of identification resulting in the inclusion of many high-ability students currently missing from gifted education across the state: Native American, Black, and Hispanic students, low-income students, English learners, and those who also have disabilities.
The New Mexico Art Education Association supports House Bill 130 because it will help develop the artistic potential of diverse, high-ability New Mexico students, many of them not yet identified as gifted in our public schools.
