Summary:

 Senate Bill 234 creates the Tribal Education Trust Fund. SB 234 provides reporting requirements. SB 234 creates the Tribal Education Trust Disbursement Formula Task Force. Makes appropriations. 

Legislation Overview:

 Senate Bill 234 creates the Tribal Education Trust Fund and makes appropriations.
SECTION 1 creates the Tribal Education Trust Fund (Fund).
 A. The Fund is created as a nonreverting fund in the state treasury. The Fund shall be used for any purpose enumerated in Section 22-23A-2 NMSA 1978 or in an intergovernmental agreement between a New Mexico tribe and the Public Education Department (PED). The Fund consists of the usual funding sources. Income from investment of the Fund shall be credited to the Fund. Money in the Fund shall be expended only as provided in this section. 
B. The state investment officer shall invest money in the Fund in accordance with the : 
Uniform Prudent Investor Act; and (2) in consultation with the Tribal Education Trust Fund Disbursement Formula Task Force (Task Force) created pursuant to Section 2 of this 2025 act.
C. The state investment officer shall report quarterly to the Legislative Education Study Committee (LESC) and the State Investment Council on the investments made pursuant to this section. Beginning in Fiscal Year 2026, a report shall be submitted no later than October 1 each year to the LESC and any other appropriate interim committees. 
D. Beginning in Fiscal Year 2027, a distribution shall be made from the Fund to the PED on July 1 of each year in which adequate money is available in the Fund in an amount equal to the greater of $12,500,000 or as specified in this subsection, provided that the PED shall distribute funding received pursuant to this subsection according to the formula developed pursuant to Section 2 of this 2025 act. 
E. In addition to the distribution pursuant to Subsection D, money in the Fund may be expended in the event that General Fund balances and other specified state reserve funds
will not meet the level of appropriations authorized from the General Fund for a fiscal year. 
In that event, the legislature may appropriate from the Fund to the General Fund only in the amount necessary to meet General Fund appropriations for that fiscal year and only if the legislature has authorized transfers from the specified contingency funds that exhaust those fund balances. 
F. PED shall enter into intergovernmental agreements with New Mexico tribes prior to the disbursement of funds pursuant to Subsection G. 
G. Beginning in fiscal year 2027, on July 15 of each year, the PED shall disburse money received pursuant to Subsection D to each New Mexico tribe that has entered into an intergovernmental agreement with the department. Money disbursed to a New Mexico tribe shall not revert and shall carry over to the next fiscal year for continued use by the New Mexico tribe. Money shall be disbursed in the usual way.
H. The PED shall create a disbursement formula, in consultation with the Task Force created pursuant to Section 2 of this 2025 act, that ensures that a New Mexico tribe receives nonreverting disbursements each year on July 15 that the New Mexico tribe may use to carry out the purposes of the Indian Education Act. 
I. Prior to April 15 of each year, each New Mexico tribe shall submit to the PED a summary of its operating budget and plan for the ensuing fiscal year with the information as specified in this subsection.
J. Prior to October 15 of each year, each New Mexico tribe shall submit to the PED a spending report and an assessment of program impact, student engagement and student outcomes based on tribally determined criteria. 

K. The PED shall report to the LESC, any other appropriate interim committee and the New Mexico tribes no later than November 15 of each year the total disbursements made pursuant to Subsection G for the previous fiscal year, a summary of tribal reports received and a projection of available disbursements pursuant to Subsection G in the following fiscal year. 
L. The PED may: (1) establish procedures and adopt rules, after formal consultation with the New Mexico tribes, as required to administer and disburse money pursuant to Subsection G; and (2) solicit, receive and report on tribal education budgets, plans and reports pursuant to this section. 
M. Nothing in this section shall interfere with the sovereignty of federally recognized New Mexico tribes. 
N. Beginning in Fiscal Year 2026 and in each subsequent fiscal year, the lesser of one percent of the Fund or $100,000 is appropriated from the Fund to the PED for expenditure in the fiscal year in which it is appropriated to administer the Fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of a fiscal year shall revert to the Fund. 
O. As used in this section, "New Mexico tribe" means an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo located wholly or partially in New Mexico in which Native American students are being educated in New Mexico. 
SECTION 2 makes a temporary provision to create the Tribal Education Trust Fund Disbursement Formula Task Force (Task Force).
A. The Task Force  is created within the PED. The task force shall function from the date of its appointment, which shall be no later than December 1, 2025, until July 1, 2032. The assistant secretary of Indian education of the PED shall serve on the task force in an advisory function. The task force shall be supported by the PEDt. The task force consists of the nine members as specified in this subseciton. 
B. The Task Force shall develop a disbursement formula that the PED shall use for the disbursement of funds from the Fund as specified in this subsection.
C. The task force shall report its recommendations for a disbursement formula to the governor, the legislature and the secretary of public education prior to July 1, 2026.
D. The task force shall reconvene on July 1, 2031 to review and assess the equity and functionality of the disbursement formula and provide additional recommendations, if necessary, to the governor, the legislature and the secretary of public education prior to July 1, 2032. 
E. Members of the task force may receive per diem and mileage as provided for nonsalaried public officers in the Per Diem and Mileage Act and shall receive no other compensation, perquisite or allowance. 
SECTION 3 appropriates $100,000,000) from the General Fund to the Fund for expenditure in Fiscal Year 2026 and subsequent fiscal years to carry out the purpose of the Fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert to the General Fund. 
SECTION 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2025.