nhsba

Legislative Bulletin

June 11, 2010


A Brief Summary of Education Issues at the State House


Both the House and Senate met in Special Session on Wednesday, taking action on FY 2010 - 2011 biennium budget reductions and a senate bill on gaming. Agreement was reached on the budget reductions but the gaming bill failed to win approval in the House.
 
This Bulletin will be the final weekly summary of legislative activity at the state house. Periodic Bulletins will be provided as needed, based on relevant activity of various legislative study committees and the Department of Education. Thank you for your attention this year to these weekly updates, and your help with contacting local legislators on important school policy issues and legislation.
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2010 Special Session - Balancing the Biennium Budget
Special Session House Bill 1 (SSHB1) - making certain general fund reductions and tax and revenue changes.
 
The House and Senate both met in session and held extensive debate and deliberations on the bill to balance the state's budget. Legislators addressed an estimated shortfall of $173 million for FY 2010 and $122 million for FY 2011; a combined shortfall of $295 million for the biennium. Almost half the current FY 2010 shortfall was addressed by moving $80 million of ARRA State Fiscal Stabilization Fund money originally scheduled for use in funding next year's FY 2011 Adequate Education grants, to now be used for the current 2010 fiscal year.
 
For FY 2011, over $50 million in spending cuts are made. Of this amount, $35.5 million is accounted for by making specific appropriation reductions in next year's budget within several agencies of the state. The Department of Education reductions totaled $9.9 million, or 28% of the total $35.5 million. $8.7 million of the cuts are in direct "State Aid" to school districts. This $8.7 million downshift of funding to the local level represents almost 25% of the total $35.5 million in appropriation reductions for FY 2011.
 
The cuts in education state aid are:
Catastrophic special education aid is reduced by $7,892,809. The resulting appropriation for FY 2011 is $23,537,308. The total current year FY 2010 Cat Aid entitlement is $35,098,484, and district reimbursements were pro-rated at 85%. The revised appropriation for FY 2011 means that if there were no increase in the entitlement for next year, the resulting distribution of aid would be pro-rated at 67%.
 
Tuition and Transportation Aid is reduced by $607,993. The resulting appropriation for FY 2011 is $6,947,696.
Dropout Prevention funds are reduced by $128,065. The resulting appropriation for FY 2011 is $1,621,935.
Local Education Improvement funds are reduced by $39,903. The resulting appropriation for FY 2011 is $460,097.
 
Other state aid cuts include $23,942 in Statewide Spec Education and $9,178 in Career Tech Student Orgs.
 
Other notable cuts include $65,000 to eliminate the Parent as Teacher program; a $15,961 reduction in school nutrition reimbursements for breakfast; a $102,920 reduction in support of adult education programs; and a $240,420 reduction in expenditures for state testing.
 
Also included in the bill is a provision for school boards to hold a special district meeting in response to anticipated reductions in state aid. The governing body may call a special meeting to consider reduction or rescission of appropriations made for FY 2011. The legislative body (district meeting) could approve or disapprove any proposed reduction or rescission of appropriations, or approve lesser reductions, but could not approve greater reductions, increase appropriations, reduce or rescind an appropriation not specified in the warrant or act on any other business at the meeting. This provision is effective until December 31, 2010.
 
NOT included in the adopted budget revisions was any further reduction in the state share of teacher, police and fire retirement contribution rates next year. This provision was not included in the bill, and the state share for next year, FY 2011, remains as adopted in last year's legislation at 25%, down from the current 30% share for FY 2010.
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Performance-Based School Accountability System
The Task Force to Develop a Performance-Based Accountability System continues to meet and work on developing a performance-based school accountability system that, beginning with the 2011-2012 school year, will serve as one method a school may use to demonstrate by the end of the school year that it is providing the opportunity for an adequate education. Presentations were made to the House and Senate Education Committees, giving reports of progress made and current considerations for further work. Recommendations include a two level system, where level one would consist of a limited set of state-defined common indicators applied consistently across all schools (NECAP, graduation rate, postsecondary assessments, attendance). Level two would consist of locally determined goals, targets, and indicators and participation in level two would be optional. Also discussed was the "input-based system" that is currently required of schools to demonstrate that they provide the opportunity for an adequate education. This input-based system relies on districts completing a 'survey' that indicates the school is meeting certain school standards as specified in statute and rules. The Dept. Education has developed a web-based program that allows schools to indicate the presence/absence of meeting these standards, and will be announcing the availability of the web site within the next two weeks. Over the summer, schools will need to complete the NH Input Based School Accountability System (NH-IBSAS) survey that measures whether each school is providing an opportunity for an adequate education by establishing that it met certain school approval standards. This summer's exercise is related to the 2009-2010 school year.
 
The Performance-Based Accountability System is to be implemented beginning with the 2011-2012 school year. The Task Force has indicated a commitment that judgments about subgroup performance must be considered in the performance-based accountability system to measure "opportunity for an adequate education". However, details as to how this would be implemented/determined remain to be developed. Also under review are options relative to using student growth percentiles. The Department of Education must verify the integrity, accuracy, and validity of the performance-based accountability system utilizing actual school data and submit a final report no later than November 1, 2010. The report is to include recommendations for future legislation and legislative adoption of the performance-based accountability system.
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2010 Interim Study Bills
The following education bills have been referred for Interim Study. Refer for Interim Study is a committee report done only in the second year of a session. The committee, as an Interim Study final report, submits any findings and recommendations, but there is no continuation of the bill. Any legislative action would have to be filed as proposed legislation during the next session.
House Education Committee
HB 1414, requiring that evaluations of teachers who are employed by the school district be based on multiple, reliable, and accurate measures.
SB 373, authorizing the state board of education to approve alternative schools in a school district.
 
House Finance Committee
HB 140, authorizing chartered public schools to receive school building aid grants for leased space.
 
Senate Public and Municipal Affairs Committee
SB 372, requiring each person elected to a school district or cooperative school district school board to complete a minimum of 3 hours of training and instruction annually in the education laws of this state and a minimum of 3 hours of training and instruction in education policy.
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For the complete text of any bill, go to the general court web site and enter the bill number, e.g. HB1523, SB405 or CACR27, and make sure the Session Year is 2010.

For more information on specific legislation, please call Dean Michener, NHSBA Director of Governmental Affairs at 603-228-2061, or email: [email protected].


Dean Michener
NHSBA Director of Governmental Affairs