As used in the Pre-Kindergarten Act:

A. "community" means an area defined by school district boundaries, tribal boundaries or joint boundaries of a school district and tribe or any combination of school districts and tribes;

B. "department" means the early childhood education and care department;

C. "early pre-kindergarten program" means a statewide, voluntary developmental readiness program for children who have attained their third birthday prior to September 1 that delivers to eligible children programs that address their total developmental needs, including their physical, cognitive, social and emotional needs, and that supports their development in the areas of health care, nutrition and safety and multicultural awareness;

D. "eligible child" means a person age three or four on September 1 of the early pre-kindergarten or pre-kindergarten program year;

E. "eligible provider" means a person licensed by the department to provide early childhood developmental readiness services or preschool special education, or is a public provider or a tribal program or head start program;

F. "mixed delivery programming" means the provision of pre-kindergarten programs through an equal distribution of funds to programs administered by the public schools and other programs licensed by the department;

G. "pre-kindergarten program" means a statewide, voluntary developmental readiness program for children who have attained their fourth birthday prior to September 1 that delivers to eligible children programs that address their total developmental needs, including their physical, cognitive, social and emotional needs, and that supports their development in the areas of health care, nutrition and safety and multicultural awareness;

H. "public provider" means a school district or charter school; and

I. "tribe" means an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo located in New Mexico.

History: Laws 2005, ch. 170, § 3; 2019, ch. 48, § 20.

The 2019 amendment, effective July 1, 2020, defined "early pre-kindergarten program", "eligible child", "mixed delivery programming", and "public provider", and revised the definitions of "department", "eligible provider", and "pre-kindergarten program" as used in the Pre-kindergarten Act; in Subsection B, after "means the", deleted "children, youth and families" and added "early childhood education and care", and after "department", deleted "and the public education department acting jointly"; deleted former Subsection C, which defined "early childhood development specialist"; added new Subsections C and D, and redesignated former Subsection D as Subsection E; in Subsection E, after "licensed by the", deleted "children, youth and families", after "special education, or is", added "a public provider or", and after the next occurrence of "a", deleted "public school"; added a new Subsection F and redesignated former Subsection E as Subsection G; in Subsection G, after "pre-kindergarten", added "program", and after "September 1", added the remainder of the subsection; and added a new Subsection H and redesignated former Subsection F as Subsection I.