A. For a qualified high priority project, if money has been specifically appropriated for the purposes of this section, and if the school district so requests, the money may be used to pay both the state share, as calculated by Subsection B of Section 22-24-5 NMSA 1978 and all or a portion of the district share, subject to the following criteria:

(1) the amount paid as the district's share plus any amount added pursuant to Paragraph (3) of this subsection shall be recouped by offsetting future allocations that otherwise would be made from the fund for the state share of projects qualifying for a grant award pursuant to Subsections B and C of Section 22-24-5 NMSA 1978;

(2) except as provided in Paragraph (6) of this subsection, once a project within a district has been funded pursuant to the provisions of this section, then, until the amount paid as the district's share plus any amount added pursuant to Paragraph (3) of this subsection is fully recouped, no standard-based grant awards from the fund shall be made to the district and the district shall be solely responsible for using its local resources to bring those facilities, that would otherwise be eligible for allocations from the fund pursuant to Section 22-24-5 NMSA 1978, up to the statewide adequacy standards;

(3) in determining the amount to be recouped pursuant to Paragraphs (1) and (2) of this subsection, any legislative appropriations for nonoperating purposes made either directly to the school district or to another governmental entity for the purpose of passing the money directly to the school district and not rejected by the school district shall be added to the amount advanced from the fund as the district's share for a project;

(4) the amount to be recouped pursuant to Paragraph (1) of this subsection may be reduced by payments from the school district with cash balances and other available district resources that may legally be used for such payments;

(5) allocations from the fund for the district share shall only be made if the council finds that the school district is likely to complete the project within thirty-six months after the allocation for the district share is made available to the district; and

(6) notwithstanding the requirements of Paragraph (2) of this section, two projects within a school district may be funded pursuant to this section before the recoupment process under that paragraph commences, if:

(a) both projects qualify pursuant to the provisions of Paragraph (2) of Subsection B of this section; or

(b) both projects qualify during the same awards cycle, beginning on or after July 1, 2006.

B. As used in this section, "qualified high priority project" means a project:

(1) that is approved for a grant award pursuant to Section 22-24-5 NMSA 1978 during an awards cycle occurring in 2006 and subsequent award cycles and is located in a high-growth area, as designated by the council; or

(2) that was approved for a grant award pursuant to Section 22-24-5 NMSA 1978 during the 2004-2005 or 2005-2006 awards cycle but for which the school district, as of July 1, 2006, has not obtained funding for the district share and is located in a high-growth area, as designated by the council.

C. The council may designate an area that equals a contiguous attendance area of one or more existing schools as a "high-growth area" if the council determines that:

(1) within five years of the grant allocation decision, the estimated occupancy rate of the proposed new school would be seventy percent or more of the design capacity;

(2) at the time of the application, the attendance at the existing schools in the high-growth area from which students at the new school will be drawn is above design capacity; and

(3) for the period of five years after the grant allocation decision the attendance at those existing schools will be maintained at ninety-five percent or greater of design capacity.

History: Laws 2006, ch. 95, § 7; 2019, ch. 180, § 7.

The 2019 amendment, effective July 1, 2019, in Subsection A, after "calculated by", deleted "Paragraphs (5) and (6) of".