NMAA was incorporated as a New Mexico nonprofit corporation in 1964. In 1997 there was a major restructuring, with the Board of Directors replacing the executive committee as the governing body. The present executive director, Sally Marquez, took office in 2012. Even though NMAA is a private organization, it is regulated to some extent by the State of New Mexico. New Mexico law (NMSA 1978 22-2-2L) gives the Public Education Department authority over "an association or organization attempting to regulate a public school activity", giving it authority to approve or disapprove rules and to require performance and financial audits, and requiring the organizations to comply with New Mexico's Open Meetings Act and its Public Records Act. Membership in NMAA is open to public, private and parochial middle/junior high and senior high schools in New Mexico. As of late 2008, NMAA had 187 member middle schools and junior high schools and 163 member high schools. A list of member high schools is available. Total revenue for the year ending June 30, 2007 was $3,961,100. NMAA claims to be a national leader in corporate development (that is, attracting sponsorships). In 2007, NMAA was reported to have increased its sponsorship revenue from $27,000 to $700,000 over the previous four years. As of late 2008, the NMAA web site listed 31 corporate sponsors.
Sanctioned activities NMAA-sanctioned athletics are
baseball,
basketball,
cross country,
football,
golf,
powerlifting,
soccer,
softball,
swimming &
diving,
tennis,
track and field,
volleyball,
wrestling, spirit (
cheerleading and
drill team), NMAA-sanctioned non-athletic activities are
Athletic Training Challenge,
bowling,
Business Professionals of America,
chess,
choir,
Concert Band,
Marching Band,
DECA Marketing Education,
drama / one act play, English Expo,
Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America,
FFA Agriculture Education,
Health Occupations Students of America,
Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps,
mock trial,
Rodeo, scholastic publications,
science fair,
Science Olympiad,
SkillsUSA,
speech and debate,
student council,
Technology Student Association. Not all of these are competitive.
Athletic alignment and classification The NMAA divides school sports into classes by geographic location ("District") and by enrollment ("Class"). An example is 5-3A, meaning District 5 and Class AAA. The number of districts varies by sport. A school may choose to compete in a higher class than its enrollment would indicate. Thus, a particular school may be in different districts and classes in different sports. For example, in 2008
Albuquerque Academy is in District 5-4A for most sports, but is in District 4-3A for football.
Menaul School is in District 6-1A in most sports, District 1-8M (an eight-man division) in football, and District 1-1A/3A in golf (which combines the 1A, 2A and 3A classes). A complete listing of alignment and classification is available. In December 2008 NMAA issued a proposed revised schedule of alignment and classification. ==Awards and honors==