Any sabbatical leave program adopted by a local school district or a state agency shall provide the following as minimum conditions:

A. only those certified employees who have completed at least six years of continuous service in a certified capacity with the school district or those certified school instructors who have completed at least six years of continuous service in a certified capacity with the state agency are eligible. For purposes of this section, a leave of absence without pay shall not be considered as an interruption of continuous service but the leave of absence without pay shall not be counted in determining the six-year requirement;

B. further sabbatical leave may be granted in the seventh year of service following a period of sabbatical leave under the same conditions as other sabbatical leaves are granted;

C. sabbatical leave shall be granted only upon agreement by the employee to return to the school system or state agency for at least two years following the leave or repayment to the school district or state agency of the salary received during the period of leave. Such agreement shall be placed in a supplementary contract executed prior to authorization for the sabbatical leave;

D. the maximum term of any one period of sabbatical leave shall be one year;

E. the employee shall be guaranteed an equivalent or better position upon return to the school system or state agency;

F. if regular salary increments for length of service are contained in the salary schedule, the period of leave shall be counted as period of service in the computation of future length of service increments; and

G. the employee may continue his participation in the educational retirement plan by making appropriate contributions as agreed by the local school board or the governing authority of the state agency and the educational retirement board.

History: 1953 Comp., § 77-8-23, enacted by Laws 1969, ch. 116, § 4; 1975, ch. 306, § 19; 1978 Comp., § 22-10-25, recompiled as § 22-10A-37 by Laws 2003, ch. 153, § 72.

Recompilations. — Laws 2003, ch. 153, § 72 recompiled former 22-10-25 NMSA 1978 as 22-10A-37 NMSA 1978, effective April 4, 2003.

Cross references. — For the educational retirement board, see 22-11-3 NMSA 1978.