nhsba

New Hampshire School Boards Association

Legislative Bulletin

May 24, 2013 

  

A Brief Summary of Education Issues at the State House  

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Legislative Deadlines

Both the House and Senate are scheduled to meet next week as the deadline for action on bills approaches. The deadline to act on the budget is June 6; the deadline to form Committees of Conference is June 13; the deadline to complete Committee of Conference work and sign reports is June 20; the deadline for House and Senate action on Committee of Conference reports is Thursday, June 27.

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House Rejects Gaming

This week the House rejected SB 152, the Senate adopted bill relative to video lottery and table gaming. The margin of defeat was 35 votes. Rejection of this bill will have an impact on budget deliberations and eventual negotiations between the House and Senate, since the proposal contained a significant source of revenue and the Senate also rejected House supported gasoline and cigarette tax increases.

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Senate Finance Committee and the Budget

The Senate Finance Committee continues its work on developing a budget for the next two years. This week, the committee voted to reject two sources of significant revenue: a 12 cent increase in the gas tax over three years, and a 20 cent increase in the cigarette tax. During deliberations on education appropriations, the committee is proposing the same overall funding level as the House for both Catastrophic Special Education Aid and Vocational Tuition & Transportation Aid. The difference is that the House proposed level funding for FY 2014 with a $2 million increase in Cat Aid, and a $1 million increase in Voc T&T Aid, for 2015. The Senate Finance Committee proposed to spread the increase over both years: $1 million each year for Cat Aid, and $500,000 each year for Voc T&T Aid. The committee is also deliberating a possible change to the Adequacy statute, revising the current collar that limits any increase in Adequacy Aid to no more than 5.5% over the previous year. The potential change is to increase the cap to 10%, adding $6 million to Adequacy grants over the next biennium. Another proposal recommended by the Committee is to appropriate 3.4 million for new charter schools not yet approved by the State Board of Education. The Finance Committee currently plans to complete its budget recommendations by next Tuesday, May 28.

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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 nonconcurred with the Senate amendment and requested a Committee of Conference, naming the following House members as conferees: Representatives Grassie (Rochester), Myler (Contoocook), Gorman (Nashua), and Ladd (Haverhill).

 

ACTION ITEM

The Senate is scheduled to consider the House request for a Conference Committee when it meets next week. 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. Please contact your local senator, and urge him/her to strongly support the Senate position and not compromise on language. NHSBA will continue to monitor the bill and notify school boards if conferees adopt a report.

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HB 260 - Children in Need of Services (CHINS)

The Senate this week adopted an amendment to HB 260, which expands the definition of a child in need of services under RSA 169-D, revises the circumstances under which the court may order various services or placements, and gives the department discretion to offer voluntary services. The Commissioner of DHHS may suspend referrals for voluntary services when it is determined that appropriated funds will be insufficient to support additional services, and report such decisions to the fiscal committee. The Senate included an amendment that addresses NHSBA concerns regarding additions to current statutory requirements for school board policies on truancy that were overly prescriptive and vague.

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House Education Committee Recommendations

The House Education Committee adopted recommendations on three Senate bills, and voted to retain one. The House will consider committee recommendations when it meets next week.

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. After lengthy review, the House Education Committee was 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." The Committee proposed an amendment that replaces "dispositions" with "work-study practices for success in college, career and citizenship." The amendment also includes 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." Committee 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 Committee recommendation to the House is Ought to Pass as Amended.

SB 82 seeks to create a 34-member commission for the purpose of identifying strategies needed for developing and implementing a competency-based public education system. The Commission's report is due on or before October 31, 2014. (See May 10 Bulletin for more details.) The Committee decided more work and clarification was needed, and voted to retain the bill.

SB 27 requires the department of education to hire an independent organization to evaluate the effectiveness of the special education program approval and monitoring system in 2015, and decennially thereafter. (See May 17 Bulletin for more details.) The Committee voted this week to recommend passage of the bill (Ought to Pass) and move the process forward.

SB 97 replaces references to the GED certificate with "high school equivalency". The General Educational Development (GED) Testing Service develops and distributes the GED Tests. The program gives adults and out-of-school youth an opportunity to demonstrate their academic skills and earn a New Hampshire High School Equivalency Certificate. This program will change for New Hampshire on January 1, 2014. The NH Board of Education has selected HiSet, published by Educational Testing Service, as the NH High School Equivalency Test for 2014. SB 97 changes NH's statutory reference, replacing "GED" with "high school equivalency". The House Education Committee voted to recommend that the bill be adopted (Ought to Pass).

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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. HB142, and make sure the Session Year is 2013. 

 

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

Ted Comstock
NHSBA Executive Director
&
Dean Michener
NHSBA Dir. of Governmental Affairs