NM SM16

Requests the Higher Education Department to convene a task force to study and draft legislation for collecting data on parenting students in New Mexico's higher education system

Task force membership would include staff from four-year universities, two-year community colleges, tribal colleges, parenting students, the children's cabinet, and the New Mexico Student Parent Alliance

Task force must develop a standardized definition of "parenting student" and recommend consistent data collection methods, including question phrasing and routine assessment of parenting status each academic term

Report and recommendations due to the legislative health and human services committee by November 1, 2026

Context: One in three New Mexico college students were parents or expecting in 2024, and the state had the third highest poverty rate nationally in 2023 with nearly 23% child poverty