A. The board shall:

(1) determine the financial and educational policies of the technical and vocational institute and provide for the execution of these policies by selecting a competent president for the institute and, upon the president's recommendation, shall employ other administrative personnel, instructional staff or other personnel as may be needed for the operation, maintenance and administration of the institute;

(2) fix fee rates and tuition rates for students;

(3) have authority to issue certificates of proficiency;

(4) have authority to issue associate of arts, associate of science and associate of applied science degrees; provided that associate degree programs shall be approved by the commission on higher education [higher education department];

(5) have authority to accept gifts, receive federal aid or other aid and purchase, hold, sell and rent property and equipment in the name of the technical and vocational institute district;

(6) promote the general welfare of the technical and vocational institute for the best interest of educational service to the people of the technical and vocational institute district; and

(7) adopt a name for or change the name of the technical and vocational institute or the institute's campuses, provided no name is adopted in honor of a living person.

B. Whenever the board changes the name of a technical vocational institute or the institute's campuses:

(1) functions, personnel, appropriations, money, records, equipment and other property of the formerly named institute or campuses shall be transferred to the newly named institute or campuses;

(2) existing contracts and agreements in effect as to the formerly named institute or campuses shall be binding on the newly named institute or campuses; and

(3) references in state or local law to the formerly named institute or campuses shall be deemed to refer to the newly named institute or campuses.

History: 1953 Comp., § 73-34-6, enacted by Laws 1963, ch. 108, § 6; 1986, ch. 18, § 1; 2005, ch. 32, § 1.

Bracketed material. — The bracketed material was inserted by the compiler and is not part of the law.

Laws 2005, ch. 289, § 29 provided that all references to the commission on higher education be construed to be references to the higher education department.

The 2005 amendment, effective June 17, 2005, permitted a technical and vocational institute district board to adopt or to change the name of the institute or the institute's campuses; prohibited the adoption of a name to honor a living person; and provided for the continuation of the institute under the new name.

Positions of legislator and president of a technical and vocational institute are not incompatible. — The position of president of a technical and vocational institute is not a civil office or a state office and the positions of state legislator and president of a technical vocational institute are not necessarily physically and/or functionally incompatible. Consequently, a legislator may serve as president of a technical and vocational institute without resigning office and without violating N.M. Const. art. 4, § 3 or 28, Section 2-1-3 NMSA 1978, or any other provision of law regarding incompatibility. 2006 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 06-01.

Entertainment, travel, and meal expenditures. — Officials and employees of a technical-vocational institute may, within limitations, spend public money for certain entertainment, meals, travel, and membership expenses without violating the antidonation clause (N.M. Const., art. 9, § 14) if the expenditures are demonstrably related to the institute's constitutionally or statutorily authorized functions and do not amount to a subsidy of private individuals or businesses. 1997 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 97-02.

Scholarships out of public money permitted. — Based on its authority to provide and charge tuition for educational services, a technical-vocational institute may, consistently with the antidonation clause (N.M. Const., art. 9, § 14), use public money for scholarships in the form of tuition waivers or reductions if the criteria used to award them are education-related and applied in a reasonable and even-handed manner. Past opinions suggesting that scholarship awards violate the antidonation clause are overruled to the extent they limit scholarships to those paid from private or federal sources. 1997 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 97-02.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 68 Am. Jur. 2d Schools §§ 65 to 67.

Extent of power of school district to provide for the comfort and convenience of teachers and pupils, 7 A.L.R. 791, 52 A.L.R. 249.

Power of school authorities to employ physicians, nurses, oculists, and dentists, 12 A.L.R. 922.

Gifts for public school as a valid charitable gift, 48 A.L.R. 1126.

Constitutionality, construction, and effect of statutes in relation to admission of nonresident pupils to school privileges, 72 A.L.R. 499, 113 A.L.R. 177.

Tort liability of public schools and institutions of higher learning for accidents associated with chemistry experiments, shopwork and manual or vocational training, 35 A.L.R.3d 758.

Residence for purpose of admission to public school, 56 A.L.R.3d 641.

Student's right to compel school officials to issue degree, diploma, or the like, 11 A.L.R.4th 1182.

Liability of private vocational or trade school for fraud or misrepresentations inducing student to enroll or pay fees, 85 A.L.R.4th 1079.

78 C.J.S. Schools and School Districts § 81 et seq.; 78A C.J.S. Schools and School Districts §§ 503, 805.