A. There is created the "board of directors of the public school insurance authority". The board shall be composed of nine members, consisting of the following:
(1) one member to be selected by the state board [department] of education;
(2) one school business official to be selected by the New Mexico school administrators;
(3) one board member of the New Mexico school boards association to be selected by the association;
(4) one superintendent to be selected by the New Mexico superintendents' association;
(5) three members to be selected by the New Mexico national education association and the New Mexico federation of teachers with the intent that representation be proportional to their respective membership, provided that each of these three members be currently employed as public school teachers employed by participating entities;
(6) one member to be selected by the board from lists submitted by the participating educational entities; and three members to be appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the governor; such members shall not be employed by or on behalf of or be contracting with an employer participating in or eligible to participate in the public school insurance authority.
B. Each member of the board shall serve at the pleasure of the party by which he has been appointed for a term not to exceed three years. Any board member who has been appointed and who misses four meetings of the board during a fiscal year shall be replaced and shall forfeit his position on the board, and his replacement shall be made by the organization affected. The board shall set minimum terms of appointment and shall elect from its membership a president, vice president and secretary.
C. The board has the authority to hire a director and appoint such other officers and employees as it may deem necessary and has the authority to contract with consultants or other professional persons or firms as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of the Public School Insurance Authority Act. The board has the authority to provide for its full- and part-time employees, as it deems necessary, employee benefits insurance on the same basis as a member public school district may provide such employee benefits. In addition, the board has the authority to provide to members of the board and the employees risk coverages of the same scope and limitations as are allowed its member school districts to be provided to their local school boards. The board has the authority to provide employees an irrevocable option of qualifying for coverage under either the Educational Retirement Act [Chapter 22, Article 11 NMSA 1978] or the Public Employees Retirement Act [Chapter 10, Article 11 NMSA 1978].
D. The members of the board shall receive per diem and mileage as provided in the Per Diem and Mileage Act [10-8-1 to 10-8-8 NMSA 1978], but shall receive no other compensation, perquisite or allowance.
History: 1978 Comp., § 22-2-6.5, enacted by Laws 1986, ch. 94, § 5; 1988, ch. 64, § 11; 1989, ch. 373, § 1; 1991, ch. 142, § 2; 1978 Comp., 22-2-6.5, recompiled as § 22-29-5, by Laws 2003, ch. 153, § 72.
ANNOTATIONSBracketed 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 1991 amendment, effective June 14, 1991, in Subsection A, deleted "public" preceding "education" in Paragraph (1), added the proviso at the end of Paragraph (5); deleted former Paragraph (6) which read "one member to be selected by the New Mexico association of educational retirees", added the language beginning "and three members" at the end of Paragraph (6) and made a related stylistic change; added "for a term not to exceed three years" at the end of the first sentence in Subsection B; and inserted "hire a director and" near the beginning of the first sentence in Subsection C.
The 1989 amendment, effective June 16, 1989, rewrote Subsection A(1), which formerly read "the state superintendent or his designee"; substituted "school business official" for "member" in Subsection A(2); in Subsection B deleted "Except for the state superintendent who serves by virtue of his office," at the beginning of the first sentence, and added the present second sentence; and in Subsection C added the second, third and fourth sentences.
The 1988 amendment, effective May 18, 1988, substituted "state superintendent or his designee" for "director of the office of education of the department of finance and administration" in Subsection A(1), "educational retirees" for "retired educators" in Subsection A(6), and "state superintendent" for "director of the office of education" in the first sentence in Subsection B.