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SANTA FE - State Rep. Joseph Cervantes on Monday lost his attempt to create a code of conduct for parents in New Mexico's 89 school districts.
Members of the House Education Committee voted 7-4 to block Cervantes' bill.
Cervantes, a Democrat, said parental misconduct and student violence at Las Cruces High School motivated him to introduce the bill.
He said he had seen videos of parents encouraging fights on campus. Making matters worse was that certain students also carried .38- and .22-caliber handguns, he said.
"Out of control," Cervantes said of Las Cruces High, which his daughters attend.
The principal of Las Cruces High School had a full schedule Monday and was not available for comment, a staff member said.
Cervantes' bill would have barred misbehaving parents from school grounds and subjected them to misdemeanor prosecutions for encouraging their children to "engage in violence."
Democrats and Republicans on the committee balked at that idea.
Reps. Sheryl Williams Stapleton, D-Albuquerque, and Dennis Roch, R-Texico, said parents who tell their kids to defend themselves from bullies or aggressors could be subject to criminal prosecution under the bill. Stapleton is a former teacher and Roch is a school administrator.
Roch also objected to a part of the bill that said a parent could be barred for "assaulting" his or her own child on school grounds.
"I think that's a stretch," Roch said. "A mom has a right to discipline her son, whether it's at home
Cervantes said he was drawing a distinction between discipline and assault.
Rep. George Dodge, D-Santa Rosa, said he liked the bill. He said nothing is uglier than a parent berating a coach after a game, and that such bad behavior sets the wrong tone for a school.
But other legislators said the New Mexico Activities Association already has a code of conduct for parents whose children participate in sports and other activities.
Cervantes said his bill applied to parents on school grounds, not simply those at sporting events. The teeth of the bill, he said, would be in barring parents who try to incite school violence.
But exactly how schools would enforce bans against parents was an unanswered question, Cervantes said afterward.
He said he might talk to the committee chairman, Rep. Rick Miera, about reworking the bill to lessen other legislators' objections. Miera, D-Albuquerque, also voted to block Cervantes' proposal.
But less than two weeks left in the legislative session, the bill probably cannot be revived this year, Cervantes said.
Santa Fe Bureau Chief Milan Simonich can be reached at msimonich@tnmnp.com or (505) 820-6898. His blog is at nmcapitolreport.com.
