A proposed bill in New Mexico requires high school juniors to submit proof of their plans to apply to college, begin an internship, or join the military. This submission would mark the final step in a series of annual “next step” plans provided to school authorities, beginning at the end of eighth grade.

House Bill 23, which has bi-partisan sponsors, stipulates that each year’s plan “shall be filed with the principal of the high school and shall be signed by the student, the student’s parent and the student’s guidance counselor or other school official charged with coursework planning for the student.”

HB23 is co-sponsored by Representative Nate Gentry, the GOP floor leader, and Senator Daniel Ivey-Soto, a Democrat. Mr. Gentry told the Albuquerque Journal the bill is intended to increase college enrollment in New Mexico. He noted similar, local requirements in San Marcos, Texas generated an 11 percent increase in college attendance.

According to USA Today, college enrollment in New Mexico has decreased 14% since 2010. Gentry told USA Today he thinks requiring students to fill out college applications will make them more likely to attend college. Improved attendance and graduation, in turn, are intended to boost the economy by attracting employers to the state.

For 2015-2016, New Mexico students had a 71% high school graduation rate, the lowest of any state in the country. The state’s December, 2017 unemployment rate was 6%, the second-worst in the country.

The bill does not explicitly address matters of disagreement or dispute resolution among students, parents, and school officials in making or approving next-step plans. However, the bill does authorize the state’s Education Secretary to “promulgate rules” for the plan process. The secretary is also charged with establishing “accountability standards” and monitoring compliance.

The bill also requires local school boards to ensure that each student participates in the plan process. School boards would be required to inform students of different post-high-school options. The bill obliges school boards to inform students of “the financial benefits of graduating from a college and the availability of financial aid.”

Private school students are included in the measure, with the Education Secretary given authority to establish rules and compliance for accredited private institutions.

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New Mexico’s state motto is “Crescit eundo”–“It grows as it goes.” New Mexico’s college enrollments are not growing, and in response legislators seem to say, “It will grow as it is compelled by the government.”

In the midst of a state education system with the worst high-school graduation rates in the country, this bill’s sponsors seek to expand the state’s education apparatus and artificially inflate a shrinking demand for postsecondary education.

The bill offers no details on compliance or resolving disagreements between students, families, and schools, instead granting broad authority to the state’s Education Secretary to set these policies. We expect one of the most likely enforcement measures for non-compliance would be revocation of high school diplomas.

Oddly, the bill implicitly discourages direct entry into full-time employment after high school. Rather, for those not attending college or joining the military, the bill requires documentation of plans for vocational programs or internships–presumably temporary steps prior to more education or more sophisticated employment. In revealing fashion, the edits to the bill show that the simple option of “a job” was struck from the original list of acceptable plan options:

As currently envisioned by the bill, then, a high-school student who wants to graduate and become a full-time mechanic would be an outlier, perhaps requiring an injection of greater ambition from school counselors.

And what of the more extreme outliers, such as the would-be artists or modern-day Thoreaus who might seek to “live deliberately” after high school in some unorthodox fashion? Perhaps the Secretary will stipulate whether, say, mission work in foreign countries counts as an “internship.” Presumably, non-conforming citizens could satisfy the authorities by filling out an insincere, pro forma application to Clovis Community College, or similar.

Many others, of course, will go to college and have wonderful, enriching experiences. But what if their studies are not practical or vocational enough to bode well for the state’s economy? Currently, at the University of New Mexico, students can take courses on Viking Mythology (Medieval Studies 347), a Seminar in Vasubandhu (Philosophy 676–knowledge of Sanskrit expected!), or Tribal Gaming (Native American Studies 326). Should Representative Gentry and Senator Ivey-Soto also give those college students a guiding hand, demanding next-step plans showing productive outcomes?

We emailed both of the bill’s sponsors and asked them to answer this question:

Is it consistent with a free and constitutional republic for New Mexico to require citizens to submit work or education plans for approval by the state? If so, at what age, if any, does this state prerogative end?

Neither representative has responded.