The first thing that the anti-bullying legislation of New Mexico addresses is what exactly bullying is. They define it as any repeated abuse in a variety of forms. The abuse may be verbal or written, but it also includes any electronic methods of abuse. This is only limited to abuse that takes place on school grounds or at school-related events. It also includes hate crimes based on race, physical appearance, or sexuality.
One of the education requirements in New Mexico is that each school must have a system in place for victims to report bullying. This system must ensure confidentiality. It must also protect students who are reporting bullies from reprisal and prevent the bullies from learning about any witnesses that are cooperating with the school. Similarly, the schools must implement some way of punishing students who make false reports of bullying.
The website BullyPolice, which grades states on their anti-bullying programs, gives New Mexico's program a B+. They give extensive reasoning for their grading criteria. For one thing, New Mexico's program does not fully address cyber-bullying in any direct way other than to prohibit electronic forms of bullying while students are on campus. New Mexico does get praise for being specific about dates by which the schools in the state must implement the various regulations, as well as their specific definitions on what bullying is.
New Mexico's program is very strict in that it is not a set of recommendations for schools to implement, but is instead a set of requirements. The law came into effect in November, 2006 and required schools to have followed its requirements by April 1 the following year. As well as requiring the schools to implement the methods, it was also a requirement that all schools effectively explain the system to all faculty members and all students.