Teachers in New Mexico may be evaluated under a new system within a few years, if any of three legislative bills making their way through the Roundhouse this session are signed into law.

The House Education Committee will likely hear at least one of these bills -- two of which are companion bills -- enacting a new teacher and principal evaluation system by 2013/2014, sometime early next week.

Both House Bill 249, introduced by Rep. Dennis Roch, R-Tucumcari, and Senate Bill 293, introduced by Rep. Vernon Asbill, R-Carlsbad, make identical calls for educators to be evaluated annually via a series of multiple measures, including a reliance on Standard Based Assessment scores (35 percent), classroom observations (25 percent) and other state-approved options put together by individual school districts (25 percent).

House Bill 251, introduced by Rep. Rick Miera, D-Albuquerque, contrasts those two bills. It would create a council to develop and implement a teacher-evaluation system based on student-learning objectives (30 percent), observations (40 percent) and student surveys (20 percent), among other measures. This system would not rely on test scores.

"This bill [249] is a product of a lot of compromise and conversation," Roch said Thursday morning. "The original bill was much more closely aligned with the teacher task-force recommendations."

Roch was referring to the governor-appointed Effective Teaching Task Force -- made up of 15 educators, business leaders and education proponents -- which delivered a list of recommendations for recruiting, retaining and rewarding effective teachers last summer. Their plan included a new evaluation system for teachers covering five different effectiveness levels with at least 50 percent reliance on student-achievement data.

While most educators agree that the state's current evaluation system, based on a "meets/does not meet competency" standard, needs revising, few teachers have expressed support for the idea of being evaluated upon student test results.

"There's an art to teaching that you can't capture with tests," Roch acknowledged. But, he added, "No one evaluates a doctor without asking how his patients are doing."

He said he has met with a number of educators, administrators, superintendents and teacher-union representatives to shape his bill.

While praising certain elements of Roch and Asbill's bills, including the fact that they protect a teacher's right to due process and decrease the emphasis on test scores, Charles Bowyer, National Education Association president for the state, said the NEA isn't yet taking a stand on those bills until more changes are made.

Though he did not detail what those changes entail, he said, "Our members are not crazy about using standardized test scores, period. But I think there's little chance that any teacher evaluation system in any state won't have some use for standardized test scores."

Ellen Bernstein, president of the Albuquerque Teachers Federation, said her federation is backing Miera's bill because it legislates a statewide three-tier system created by a council of educators. It also breaks up the observation portion of the evaluation into two equal parts: 20 percent observation by principal and 20 percent by an evaluation team.

She said these measures are based on research, and called Roch's bill "the governor's bill. The teachers I represent don't want to be evaluated based on tests."

Miera did not return calls or emails seeking comment on his bill.

Speaking by phone Thursday, Public Education Department Secretary-designate Hanna Skandera said the two companion bills acknowledge and reward successful teachers, champion student achievement and help inform instruction techniques.

Acknowledging she is learning how to work with state lawmakers and educators, Skandera said, "I feel like we've done some really good work in regards to working with the NEA. We've made some compromises based on what we have heard from superintendents, educators and administrators, and I feel we have some good bipartisan support."

But, she added, "Change is always challenging, and I'm sure we'll encounter some hiccups."

The governor appointed Skandera late in 2010, but the secretary-designate has not been confirmed by the Senate Rules Committee. Earlier on Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Albuquerque, told reporters in the Roundhouse, "I'm not sure she [Skandera] meets the criteria within our state constitution," because she has never taught in a school or worked in public-school administration.

Asked whether Skandera will get a confirmation hearing during this session -- which is more than halfway over -- Sanchez, who sits on the Senate Rules Committee, said, "I'm not sure yet. Ask me in a few days."

Contact Robert Nott at 986-3021 or rnott@sfnewmexican.com.