February 4, 2011

A Brief Summary of Education Issues at the State House

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Breaking News for SB 2 School Districts

Yesterday (Thursday) the Senate passed HB 77, which amends RSA 40:13 to provide that "no warrant article shall be amended to delete the subject matter of the article." An article may still be amended to change the dollar amount of an appropriation in the article (including reducing the amount to zero), but the subject matter cannot be deleted. This will prohibit the practice, used in several SB 2 districts in recent years, of amending an article by deleting everything after the words "to see."

Already passed by the House and signed today by the Governor, HB 77 takes effect immediately and applies to SB 2 deliberative sessions that begin tomorrow, Saturday.  Any proposed amendment at a deliberative session that deletes the subject matter of a warrant article should not be permitted.

If you have any questions, please call NHSBA Staff Attorney Barrett Christina at 228-2061, ext. 303.

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Education Funding

The House Special Committee on Education Funding Reform has continued its Friday schedule of holding hearings.  The committee will meet next Friday, February 11, starting at 9:00 am in 207 LOB and follow the schedule below:

9:00 a.m.          Executive session on bills that had public hearings on Friday, Feb. 4: HB 208-FN-L, providing additional per pupil funding for pupils in certain public schools, HB 216, relative to the instructional authority of school boards, HB 233, restricting judicial review of state education trust fund distributions, HB 238-FN-A, relative to the assessment of the education tax by towns and cities.

9:30 a.m.     HB 533, establishing a cap on the amount of school building aid grants         distributed in each fiscal year.

10:30 a.m.    HB 337, relative to the calculation and distribution of adequate education grants.

HB 337 is sponsored by Reps. Hess, Flanagan, Ladd, Kurk, Bettencourt, and Jasper, and makes changes to the determination of the per pupil cost of the opportunity for an adequate education.  The bill uses an average of the 3rd and 4th quartiles of salary for teachers, principals, guidance counselors, media specialists, technology coordinators, reading specialists, administrative assistants and custodians to determine a cost in each district based on the numbers of students.  It also distributes differentiated aid for students with Free and Reduced Lunch (F&R) status for F&R eligible students only, and changes the amount of fiscal disparity aid per pupil.  Allowances are also provided for instructional materials, technology costs and transportation.

The bill also includes a hold harmless/collar provision, providing: a) No municipality shall receive an adequate education grant in any fiscal year which is greater than the adequate education grant received in the 2011 fiscal year; and (b) A municipality which is scheduled to receive an adequate education grant in a fiscal year which is less than the grant such municipality received in the 2011 fiscal year shall receive an additional grant from the education trust fund in an amount equal to 95 percent of the amount of the decrease.

The bill also includes a provision concerning the Statewide Education Property Tax: any municipality in which education property tax revenue collected exceeds the amount necessary to fund the cost of an adequate education in a fiscal year shall collect and remit 5 percent of such excess to the department of revenue administration. The municipality may remit the balance of the excess or may retain such balance to offset costs of school building aid projects or catastrophic special education costs incurred.

Executive session may follow.

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Pension Reform

The House Special Committee on Public Employee Pensions Reform has continued its Friday schedule of holding hearings.  The committee will meet next Friday, February 11, starting at 9:00 am in 201 LOB and hold hearings on the following bills:

9:00 a.m.      HB 461, relative to repealing the authority for retirement system members to purchase service credit for certain out-of-state service.

10:00 a.m.   HB 227, relative to the membership of the retirement system board of trustees.

11:00 a.m.    HB 464, requiring the transfer of certain retirement system group II special account funds to the state annuity accumulation fund.

1:00 p.m.      HB 537, reducing retirement allowances paid by the New Hampshire retirement system.

Executive session may follow.

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Committee Hearings Next Tuesday, February 8, 2011

HOUSE EDUCATION, Representatives Hall, State House

10:30 a.m.        HB 545, repealing the department of education's rulemaking authority for home education programs.

 1:00 p.m.         HB 301, amending the home education statutes.

 2:00 p.m.         HB 595, amending the compulsory school attendance statutes to permit parent-directed instruction programs and repealing the home education statutes.

 3:00 p.m.         HB 631, repealing the requirement that all school districts offer public kindergarten.

Executive session may follow.

HOUSE LABOR, INDUSTRIAL AND REHABILITATIVE SERVICES, Room 307, LOB

11:00 a.m.        HB 362, requiring binding arbitration in public labor relations disputes.

 2:00 p.m.         Executive session on HB 185, relative to determining bargaining units for purposes of public employee collective bargaining, SB 1, eliminating the automatic continuation requirement for public employee collective bargaining agreements, HB 326, eliminating the automatic continuation requirement for public employee collective bargaining agreements, HB 474, relative to freedom of choice on whether to join a labor union.

HOUSE MUNICIPAL AND COUNTY GOVERNMENT, Room 301, LOB

11:00 a.m.       HB 403, requiring that petitioned articles have a public hearing before the budget committee or governing body prior to insertion into the school district warrant.

SENATE EDUCATION, Room 103, LOB

1:00 p.m.         SB 90, establishing a committee to study the consolidation of school administrative units.

1:20 p.m.         SB 96, relative to amending the charter of The Pinkerton Academy.

2:00 p.m.         SB 67, establishing a committee to study school vouchers and school     choice.

EXECUTIVE SESSION MAY FOLLOW

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State Budget Update

The House and Senate will meet in Joint Session on Tuesday, February 15th, at 10:00 a.m. to hear the Governor's Budget Address.  The Governor must review all agency requests and compile his recommendations, which are known as the Governor's Recommended Budget.  The Governor's budget must be presented to the legislature on or before February 15 of the odd numbered year.  Then the Legislative Phase of the budget process begins, ending on June 30. During this phase, both bodies of the legislature will review the agencies requests and the Governor's recommended budgets. They will compile a budget and present it to the Governor for his signature.

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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. SB1, HB34 or CACR3 (no spaces!), and make sure the Session Year is 2011.

For more information on specific legislation, please call Dean Michener, NHSBA Director of Governmental Affairs at 603-228-2061, or email: deanm@nhsba.org.