Education

School attendance is compulsory from age 6 to age 18. The superintendent of public instruction is the chief state education officer and heads the state department of education. The superintendent is appointed by the state board of education, whose members are elected.

The University of New Mexico is the state's largest institution of higher learning. It was chartered in 1889 and opened in Albuquerque in 1892; it is state-supported. There is a two-year branch at Gallup. New Mexico State University, established in 1888, is a state institution and also a land-grant college. Its main campus is at Las Cruces. There are two-year branches at Alamogordo, Carlsbad, and Grants.