New Mexico school emergency plan rule

Does New Mexico require schools to have an emergency plan?

A Public Education Department (PED) rule, 6.12.6.8 NMAC, requires school safety plans at each school building in New Mexico's public schools. Each plan must be sent to PED for approval on a three-year cycle and must include set minimum parts. The rule's requirements apply to local school boards, local school districts and charter schools. Each school district and charter school must develop and carry out a wellness policy, of which the school safety plan is a required part, and must submit that policy to PED for approval. PED guidance says a separate plan is required for each school campus, not one plan per district. The rule cites Sections 22-2-1 and 9-24-8 NMSA 1978 as its legal authority.

What must the plan contain?

The rule defines the EOP as the part of a safe school plan that details risk assessments and sets procedures to manage a crisis, emergency, terrorist or disaster event before, during and after it happens. By that definition, the EOP includes emergency routes and staff assignments for immediate actions, delayed actions, mitigation actions, building evacuations and reentry. It also outlines the functions, resources and coordination procedures for crisis, emergency, terrorist-response and disaster operations. State law requires schools to set restraint and seclusion policies and procedures in a school safety plan, and that plan must not be specific to any one student. A PED rule repeats that duty, citing the same statute. PED guidance says restraint and seclusion policies go in the Safe School Plan or are uploaded to PED's secure drive as a separate document.

PED's 2026–27 guidance (its memo and plan template, not rule text) goes further:

• each plan must include an all-hazards EOP, documented staff training, documented yearly drills, signed assurances and a yearly review by the safety team
• every minimum requirement for school EOPs is in the template and must be in each plan, including sections on evacuation, shelter-in-place, lockdown, active shooter, behavioral threat assessment, cyber breach, parent notification, family reunification and continuity of operations
• campus floor plans must show utility cut-offs and water, gas and electrical systems
• each plan needs at least one family reunification site, with a map

Who writes the plan?

By statute, any school safety plan must be drafted by a planning team that includes at least one special education expert. Under PED's rule, the team must include at least one administrator, one educator and one special education expert, and may include a counselor or social worker, a nurse, and a school resource officer or security staff. The team must also include staff trained as designated restraint and seclusion personnel.

How often must the plan be reviewed and filed?

The school safety plan goes to PED every three years, on a schedule PED sets. PED must give districts and charter schools notice of the submission deadline 90 days before it is due. Schools must review their restraint and seclusion policies every three years, before they submit the plan. PED's 2026–27 template says the school safety team shall review and update the plan every year. In a signed PED assurance, the school confirms the plan is reviewed with the school safety committee at least once a year, or more often, such as after an emergency, and revised as needed.

In a signed PED assurance, the superintendent or charter director confirms the school safety plans were given to and reviewed with the school board or governing council before December 1, 2026.

Does the plan involve police and fire?

PED reorganized its Safe School Plan template to promote collaboration with local first responders. PED's 2026–27 template says the plan shall be shared with local first responder agencies, who must know each school's evacuation and drill protocols, reunification sites and floor plans. In a signed PED assurance, the school confirms the plan is shared with named partners, recording the date it was shared with the fire department, law enforcement agency and county or city emergency manager. PED strongly encourages schools to work with local law enforcement, fire departments and emergency managers when reviewing and updating their plans.

Is training tied to the plan?

In a signed PED assurance, the school confirms all staff and volunteers completed the required training with qualified or certified instructors.

Is the plan confidential?

New Mexico's public records law exempts tactical response plans or procedures whose publication could reveal vulnerabilities, risk assessments or tactical emergency security procedures. PED guidance suggests districts may wish to ask their counsel which parts of the plan should stay exempt from public disclosure. PED says plans must never be sent by email because they contain sensitive security information. In a signed PED assurance, the school confirms the plan is kept secure: not on a public website and not sent by email.

How is compliance checked?

PED treats the Safe School Plan as a required part of its PED Accreditation Review.

What has changed recently?

The official compilation's history note lists the latest amendment to the rule section that sets the safety plan duty as effective December 30, 2014. HB 75 (2017), the restraint and seclusion law, was signed by the Governor as Chapter 33. A 2026 bill to rewrite the restraint and seclusion statute described it as still the 2017 law, with no later amendment listed. SB 57 (2025), which amended the public records exceptions law, was signed by the Governor as Chapter 60. HB 54 (2025), signed as Chapter 129, first required school cardiac emergency response plans and AEDs; HB 256 (2026), signed as Chapter 66, amended that law. State law now requires each school, including private schools, to develop and carry out a cardiac emergency response plan covering school grounds and school athletic activities. That cardiac plan is due by the 2026–27 school year for public non-charter high schools, and by 2027–28 for elementary, middle, charter and private schools. HM 54 (2025), a House memorial proposing a study of an entity to maintain a statewide public school safety plan, died. SB 42 (2024), School Safety Communication System, died.