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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.
_________________________________________________________________________ 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].
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Dean Michener
NHSBA Director of Governmental Affairs
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