New Mexico Administrative Code › Title 6 - PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION › Chapter 68 - SCHOOL PERSONNEL - DENIAL, SUSPENSION, AND REVOCATION OF LICENSE › Part 3 - SUSPENSION, REVOCATION OR OTHER DISCIPLINARY ACTION REGARDING A LICENSE HELD BY A LICENSED SCHOOL INDIVIDUAL › Section 6.68.3.12 - THE HEARING OFFICER'S REPORT TO THE SECRETARY

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 13, July 16, 2024
A. The parties' proposals: The hearing
				officer shall afford the licensee and the department an opportunity to file
				proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law by a deadline specified by the
				hearing officer not to exceed thirty days from the closing of the hearing. The
				hearing officer may include in or exclude from his or her report to the
				secretary any portions of the parties' proposed findings, conclusions or order
				as the hearing officer deems are supported or not supported by the evidence
				presented at the hearing. Moreover, the hearing officer may revise the
				submitted proposed findings and conclusions and/or make other findings and
				conclusions as he or she deems are supported by the evidence at the hearing. No
				party shall submit post-hearing briefs or proposed findings of fact and
				conclusions of law after the deadline imposed unless leave to file late is
				granted by the hearing officer for good cause shown.
B. Contents: After the hearing officer's
				deadline has elapsed, the hearing officer shall submit a formal written report
				to the secretary consisting of the following labeled paragraphs: statement of
				the case, legal issues, proposed findings of fact, proposed conclusions of law,
				and order proposed by the hearing officer. The hearing officer shall limit
				his/her proposed order to: denial of the application, acceptance of the
				application with a condition other than the payment of money, or acceptance of
				the application.
C. In any
				disciplinary action of an individual's license(s) brought under authority of
				the Parental Responsibility Act where the hearing officer recommends
				disciplinary action against the licensee's license, the hearing officer shall
				limit his or her proposed findings, conclusions or order to the issues of
				whether a certified list of obligors from the human services department has
				been submitted indicating that individual as being in non-compliance of a
				district court child support order, and whether the human services department
				has provided to the department a certified statement that the licensee is
				presently in compliance with that order. The hearing officer and the secretary
				shall defer to any district court child support order directed to the
				department relative to a licensee's educator license(s).
D. Time limits: The hearing officer's report
				along with the parties' briefs and proposed findings of fact and conclusions of
				law and order, if any, shall be received by the secretary through the office of
				general counsel, within thirty (30) days after the deadline specified by the
				hearing officer for the parties' submission of proposed findings of fact and
				conclusions of law. The secretary may extend this time upon request of the
				hearing officer through the office of general counsel so long as the decision
				of the secretary is rendered and signed within ninety (90) days after the
				conclusion of the hearing. The hearing officer shall serve a copy of the report
				directly on the parties to the hearing, or upon their attorneys, if any, on the
				same day the hearing officer serves the secretary.
E. The hearing officer's report shall be
				considered a privileged communication between the department's hearing officer
				and the secretary not subject to public inspection until the secretary has
				reviewed the report and rendered a final decision.