New Mexico Administrative Code
Title 6 - PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
Chapter 60 - SCHOOL PERSONNEL - GENERAL PROVISIONS
Part 8 - BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR EDUCATOR LICENSURE
Section 6.60.8.9 - IMPLEMENTATION

A. The PED will not issue an educator license until the applicant's background check has been successfully completed.

B. An applicant will be notified of any information in the background check reports that could result in licensure denial, suspension, or revocation prior to the initiation of any such action by the PED.

C. If requested by a local school board, a DPS or FBI criminal history report that is not more than twenty-four months old may be provided by the PED to the applicant's school employer. The PED may inform a licensure applicant's school employer, if known, of any background check information that reveals a conviction of a felony or misdemeanor of moral turpitude at the same time that the information is reported to the applicant.

D. School district officials, who in the course of their background checks of employment applicants, discover that a licensed applicant or applicant pending a license has a conviction of a felony or misdemeanor of moral turpitude that results in any kind of action against that individual, shall share that information with the professional licensure or educator ethics bureaus of the PED. If the applicant has education licensure, the PED will notify the license holder, and his/her current school employer, if known, of the conviction(s) following the procedures in Subsections B and C of 6.60.8.9 NMAC.

E. Applicants will be given the opportunity on the application form to disclose, explain, and provide information, including rehabilitation, related to their criminal history.