A local school board may, subject to regulations adopted by the state board [department], provide per capita or per mile reimbursement to a parent or guardian in cases where regular school bus transportation is impractical because of distance, road conditions or sparseness of population or in cases where the local school board has authorized a parent to receive reimbursement for travel costs incurred by having a child attend a school outside the child's attendance zone.

History: 1953 Comp., § 77-14-6, enacted by Laws 1967, ch. 16, § 224; 1973, ch. 337, § 1; 1990 (1st S.S.), ch. 9, § 12; 1993, ch. 226, § 48; 1995, ch. 208, § 8.

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.

The 1995 amendment, effective July 1, 1995, deleted "and with the approval of the state transportation director" preceding "provide" near the beginning of the section, and deleted the former last sentence of the section which read: "A schedule providing for the reimbursement of parents and guardians in an amount that is reasonable and comparable to that which would be paid to a school bus contractor for the transportation of pupils, when computation for payment excludes the factors of size and age of school bus equipment and the driver's salary, shall be established by the state transportation division of the department of education with the approval of the state board."

The 1993 amendment, effective July 1, 1993, deleted the subsection designation "A" at the beginning of the section and deleted former Subsections B and C, pertaining to the requirement for application for reimbursement of a parent for transportation costs and defining "attendance zone".

The 1990 (1st S.S.) amendment, effective June 18, 1990, added the Subsection A designation, inserting therein "subject to regulations adopted by the state board and", "or in cases where the local school board has authorized a parent to receive reimbursement for travel costs incurred by having a child attend a school outside the child's attendance zone", and "of the department of education", made minor stylistic changes, and added Subsections B and C.

Purpose of reimbursement schedule. — The reimbursement schedule provision is apparently designed to insure a maximum amount of uniformity in payments for this type of transportation in school districts where similar conditions prevail. 1966 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 66-134 (decided under prior law).