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Education Funding Constitutional Amendment
CACR 12 has been the focus of renewed efforts to reach a compromise. In addition to the House conferees (Reps L.Ober, Hess, Balboni, and Renzullo with Foose as alternate), the Senate has appointed Senators Bradley, D'Allesandro, and Stiles. Current language under consideration states the "Legislature shall have the responsibility to maintain a system of public elementary and secondary education and to mitigate local disparities in educational opportunity and fiscal capacity. In the furtherance thereof, the Legislature shall have the full power and authority to make wholesome and reasonable standards for elementary and secondary public education and standards of accountability as it may judge for the benefit and welfare of this state; and the full power and authority to make determinations as to the amount of, and the methods of raising and distributing, state funding for public education as it may judge for the benefit and welfare of this state." Providing the state the "full power and authority" to determine "amounts of state funding...as it may judge" clearly puts current state funding levels at risk and allows the state to break its promise of a state commitment to public education for all children. The language seeks to vacate the spirit and intent of the Claremont and Londonderry lawsuits which NHSBA resolutions support. At risk are millions of dollars in state support to local communities.
Please share your concerns with your local legislators.
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Special Education and Department of Education Rules
HB 1360 is scheduled for review by the Senate Education Committee this afternoon (Friday, May 4). NHSBA is supporting a proposed amendment requiring special education rules to comply with federal law, including the provision directing states to minimize the number of rules, and identify those that exceed federal law. The proposed amendment also stipulates that any rule, "avoid imposing on school districts unreasonable, unnecessary, or unduly complex procedural burdens... (and) respect the principle that the Legislature, rather than the State Board of Education, should decide whether to exceed the minimum requirements of federal law."
ACTION ITEM
Please contact your local senator, and specifically members of the Senate Education Committee,expressing your support for the proposed amendment. The language represents our best opportunity yet to address NHSBA's priority resolutions and specific call to amend NH law so that only the state legislature, not the state board of education via rulemaking or any other process, decides when it is appropriate for state law to exceed federal law. School board members have a long history of concern with agency rules that impose state requirements in excess of federal requirements. These concerns emanate from not only local experience, but also review of State Dept. of Education memos informing districts of the areas in which state rules exceed Federal IDEA regulations. It may well be appropriate for state requirements to exceed federal law, but those decisions should be reserved for the elected legislature, not a state agency, especially when it imposes costs.
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Education Tax Credits: SB 372 and HB 1607 - Current Status
HB 1607 was adopted by the Senate this week. The Senate amended the bill to reflect most of the Senate position originally contained in SB 373, as well as a new provision to limit the amount of Adequacy revenues that local districts may lose during the next three years. The proposal states that if reductions to districts' adequacy grants are greater than 1%, "stabilization" grants shall be provided each year in an amount equal to the amount in excess of 1%. The new version also requires 70% of initial voucher recipients be attending a public school and be identified as a pupil for whom the district's adequacy grant in the next school year would be reduced if the student were removed from the ADM calculation. During the debate in the Senate, Senator Forsythe announced that the Commissioner of Education is in support of the bill. The bill has been referred to the Senate Finance Committee for further review.
SB 372 was referred to a sub-committee of House Ways and Means following the public hearing last week. During the sub-committee's work session this week, an amendment co-sponsored by Senator Forsythe and Rep. Kurk, was offered to limit school district losses in state adequacy funding to 0.2% of a school district's budget. The sub-committee took no action on the proposal, but asked the Dept. Education to prepare analyses showing the impact on local districts of the potential losses in state aid with an estimate of the aggregate financial consequences to the state if the program were subsequently terminated but participating students continued to receive scholarships until graduating high school. The sub-committee voted unanimously for Interim Study of the bill, acknowledging the anticipated amendments to the House bill HB 1607 in the Senate. The entire House Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to vote on a recommendation on the bill when it meets next Tuesday at 10:30.
ACTION ITEM
Please contact your local legislators as well as members of the House Ways and Means Committee, expressing your opposition to these bills. Diverting money from the state and local districts for private school purposes is the bottom line of this legislation. Local districts will see little or no reduction in their expenses and fixed costs when small numbers of students leave the public school, yet will still be required to forfeit money in lost adequacy funds. It is hard to understand why the legislature would consider a proposal to reduce revenues while not currently paying the bills it owes. Rather than diverting scarce tax dollars away from our public school classrooms, and arguably for unconstitutional purposes by paying tuition at parochial schools, NHSBA urges the legislature to support improvements in our public schools and meet current funding obligations and promises.
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Special Education Services in Chartered Public Schools
SB 300 requires a chartered public school to make available a free and appropriate public education to all children with disabilities by making available all special education programs and services currently available in the child's school district of residence. The bill indicates several options for how services may be provided, but also includes provisions that require a child to receive services at the charter school, and places upon resident school districts the financial and administrative responsibility to ensure the provision of such services. The bill is scheduled for final House Education Committee review and recommendation next Tuesday.
NHSBA remains concerned that SB 300 compels school districts to provide services in the "least restrictive environment" and then stipulates that charter schools are always the least restrictive environment, thereby requiring local districts to fund duplicative programs at additional cost, clearly an unfunded mandate. SB 300 also directs school districts to transport special education students to and from charter schools, regardless of distance and cost, no matter where they receive their special education; a very expensive additional cost. NHSBA supports a proposed compromise requiring the resident school district's IEP team to meet with the student's parents and representatives of the charter school, to determine: (1) what special education and related services the school district will provide while the child is enrolled at the charter school; and (2) where those services will be provided.
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Authorizing the Retention of Funds by a School District
SB 373 authorizes a school district to retain funds for emergency expenditures or to reduce the tax rate. The bill proposes that, "a school district at an annual meeting may adopt an article authorizing, indefinitely until specific rescission, the school district to retain year-end unassigned general funds in an amount not to exceed, in any fiscal year, 2.5 percent of the current fiscal year's net assessment pursuant to RSA 198:5, for the purpose of having funds on hand to use as a revenue source for emergency expenditures and overexpenditures under RSA 32:11, or to be used as a revenue source to reduce the tax rate." This bill reflects a specific resolution adopted by the NHSBA Delegate Assembly last January. The House Education Committee is scheduled to make a recommendation on the bill when it meets next Tuesday.
ACTION ITEM
Please contact your local representative as well as members of the House Education Committee, expressing your support for this bill. Such a provision, once approved by the local legislative body, will allow a revenue source for emergency expenditures, as well as the ability to smooth out variations in local property taxes when responding to reductions in state and/or federal revenue.
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Pension Spiking
SB 228, repealing the provisions establishing the assessments for excess benefits to be paid by public employers in the retirement system ("spiking penalty"), remains in the House Special Committee on Public Pension Reform. A work session is scheduled for next Monday, with possible vote on a recommendation. Several committee members oppose the repeal, believing instead the 'threat' of financial harm is the only deterrent to public employers granting such end-of-career benefit packages. NHSBA strongly supports this bill that will repeal penalty assessments on districts that were simply following the rules of NHRS. Retirement reform adopted last year has put us on a self-correcting path, and the real origin of the "problem" is in how the legislature originally defined "earnable compensation", including these payments in the calculation of an employee's annual pension benefit. Please share your support for repeal of the spiking provision. Without the repeal, additional costs would be assessed on employers that simply provided compensation allowed to be included in the pension calculation. This late change to the rules only assesses more costs on local districts based upon a flawed formula. Please share your concerns with committee members and your local representative.
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Vacancies on Cooperative School Boards
SB 328 modifies the procedure for filling a vacancy on a cooperative school board. For these boards, the remaining school board members representing the same town as the departed member shall fill a vacancy on the board, provided that there are at least 2 such members. If there are less than 2 remaining members on the school board representing the same town or towns as the departed member, or if the remaining members are unable, by majority vote, to agree upon an appointment, the selectmen of the town involved shall fill the vacancy by majority vote in convention. A member so appointed shall serve until the next district election when the voters of the district shall elect a replacement for the unexpired term. The bill is scheduled for a vote by the House Education Committee next Tuesday, when it must also consider a non-germane amendment regarding rules for child day care to which the Senate sponsor objected.
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