|
__________________________________________________________
Legislative Deadlines
Both the House and Senate are coming to a close of regular committee work with only a few session days remaining. June 6 is the deadline for formal action on bills: for the House to act on Senate bills, and the Senate to act on House bills. When there is disagreement/difference on a bill's wording, the bill either dies from nonconcurrence, or a Committee of Conference is created to resolve differences and reach compromise. The deadline to form a Committee of Conference is June 13. The deadline to complete Committee of Conference work and sign a report is June 20. The deadline for House and Senate action on Committee of Conference reports is Thursday, June 27.
______________________________________
HB 142 - Teacher Evaluation Update
HB 142 affirms that the school board is responsible for the adoption of a teacher evaluation system. The House approved language requiring local boards to adopt a "teacher evaluation and support system to be used in the school district or school for the continual improvement of instruction." The Senate deleted the reference to a "support system" as well as House language that included a reference to collective bargaining rights under RSA 273-A. Both the House and Senate versions include language stating that boards may consider any resources they deem reasonable, including any resources provided by the Department of Education. This week, the House Education Committee made the recommendation that when the House next meets, it should nonconcur with the Senate amendment and request a Committee of Conference. The next House session is currently scheduled for May 22.
ACTION ITEM
The House will likely take formal action regarding a Committee of Conference when it meets on May 22. Assuming the Senate accepts, the House Speaker and Senate President will name conferees to meet and work on reaching a compromise. It is important for school board members to share their opposition to statutory language requiring teacher support systems, or bargaining rights relevant to local school board policy. All Senate members, especially conferees, will need to strongly support the Senate position. NHSBA will continue to monitor the progress of HB 142 and notify school boards when conferees are named.
______________________________________
SB 48 - School Performance and Accountability
SB 48 makes various changes to the statute on school performance and accountability. As adopted by the Senate, it repeals local education improvement and assessment plans, and provides definitions for "priority" and "focus" schools (identified in NH's current waiver application), replacing the designation of "in need of improvement". Focus schools have the largest within-school gaps between high and low achieving groups, and priority schools are among the lowest 5% of schools in the state based on the achievement of all students on the statewide assessment. In addition to current performance targets/requirements, the bill specifically includes reference to rules, adopted by the state board, for a) performance on the statewide improvement and assessment program, b) attendance rates, and c) the percentage of pupils who graduate with a diploma. A House Education sub-committee has been reviewing the bill, concerned with language stating that, "NH's student assessment system should promote and measure the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that lead students to graduate from high schools ready for college and career." How students are assessed on such related qualities as initiative, social/emotional competence, resilience and leadership has prompted much concern within the subcommittee. Proposals to amend the bill include language that replaces "dispositions" with "work-study practices for success in college, career and citizenship." This is defined as "those behaviors that enhance learning achievement and promote a positive work ethic such as, but not limited to, listening and following directions, accepting responsibility, staying on task, completing work accurately, managing time wisely, respecting authority, observing rules, showing initiative, and being cooperative." Also proposed is a definition of 'competencies', meaning "student learning targets that represent key content-specific concepts, skills, and knowledge applied within or across content domains that are necessary to progress toward college and career readiness." Subcommittee members also agreed that in order to be classified as a 'focus school', one with the largest within-school gap between highest and lowest achieving subgroups, the school should also be a low performing school. Priority schools would be the lowest performing 5% of schools in the state, but also have demonstrated a lack of progress on the statewide assessment over 3 years, or a high school graduation rate of less than 60% over 3 consecutive years.
The subcommittee's recommendations will likely be presented to the full House Education Committee for review and action when the committee meets in executive session on May 21.
______________________________________
Senate Continues Work on State Budget
The Senate continues to review details of the budget as passed by the House, and the Senate Ways and Means Committee will likely present revenue estimates at its meeting next week. State agencies continue to make presentations on department budget requests, and provide explanations on any updated changes to their needs. The Department of Education presented on its Capital Budget request (proposed funding for the Whitefield and Salem Career Tech centers), and also made its operating budget presentation. The Department of Education is scheduled to meet again with Senate Finance next Friday.
As a reminder, a summary of the House approved appropriations for the Department of Education major sources of state aid is available here.
______________________________________
HB 260 - Children in Need of Services (CHINS) - Update
HB 260 expands the definition of a child in need of services under RSA 169-D and revises the circumstances under which the court may order various services or placements. The bill also directs the Department of Health and Human Services to collect certain data regarding the CHINS program and provides for the suspension of voluntary services if appropriated funds will be insufficient to support voluntary services for the remainder of the biennium. Unfortunately, the bill also includes overly prescriptive provisions relative to local board truancy policies. NHSBA provided the Senate Health, Education & Human Services Committee with testimony regarding the unnecessary inclusion of additions to the current statutory requirements for school board policies on truancy in RSA 189:34. The bill would require local policies relative to a process for truancy intervention to "consider and document" the effect on a child's attendance of several vague issues, including "poor school climate, poor relations with teachers, and the adequacy of the identification of the child's special education needs." A proposed amendment addressing this issue has been drafted by Senator Stiles and will be offered on the floor when the Senate next meets in session.
ACTION ITEM
The Senate Health, Education & Human Services Committee adopted a proposed amendment to HB 260. While much agreement was reached on specific provisions of the bill, which will start a process for a return of state resources for these at-risk students, the committee amendment does not address the change in school board policy. Due to a technical oversight, the relevant amendment was not included in the committee report. NHSBA has worked with the committee chair, and an amendment addressing NHSBA concerns should be offered on the floor when the full Senate takes action on HB 260. Please contact your senator and convey your general support for this bill, including the adoption of a floor amendment that revises the section on school board policy.
| 
