The House adopted a proposed budget with votes of 212-161 on HB 1 and 194-179 on HB 2. These House recommendations now move over to the Senate where the process is basically repeated within the Senate Finance Committee. The Senate schedule has a deadline to act on all House bills by Thursday, June 4. Assuming the Senate proposed budget differs from the House version, the deadline to establish any Committees of Conference is Thursday, June 11, with a deadline of Thursday June 18 for conferees to complete Committee of Conference reports. Both the House and Senate have scheduled Thursday, June 25 as the deadline for both bodies to take action (vote) on Committee of Conference reports.

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NH House Adopts Budget

State Budget: Amidst much debate and discussion focused on the adoption of Keno and use of the rainy day fund as well as cuts to programs, including stabilization grants in the Adequate Education formula, the following appropriations were adopted by the House for major education state aid programs.

Adequacy Aid

The significant cut in Adequacy Aid Stabilization grants was largely averted by adding $6.8 million to the FY 2016 appropriation, and $28.3 million for FY 2017. For FY 2016, the distribution of adequacy aid is not changed, and communities will continue to receive their stabilization grants, if currently receiving such a grant. The current 108% cap on any increase also remains in effect. For FY 2017 and beyond, the cap is entirely removed and stabilization grants are funded at 90% of the municipality's current stabilization grant, if there is one. This 10% reduction decreases stabilization grants by $15.8 million; elimination of the cap increases total grants by $11.1 million.

For a town-by-town listing showing the ESTIMATED adequacy aid impact of the House proposal, click here.

Building Aid

The moratorium, prohibiting the Dept. of Education from issuing building aid for new projects, is extended through June 30, 2017.

Catastrophic Aid

The negotiated agreement that restored much of the stabilization grants resulted in removing the $7.5 million that had been proposed to increase the appropriation for Catastrophic Aid in FY 2017, intending to make it fully funded. The appropriation for FY 2017 is now level funded at $22,300,000, and will fund approximately 70+% of entitlements.

Charter Schools

Additional grants for charter schools are adjusted by $36 effective 7/1/15 for a total of $2,036. Beginning 7/1/16, except for VLACS, $1,000 is added to the additional grant for a total of $3,036, with CPI adjustments beginning 7/1/17 and every biennium thereafter.

Health Care Plans

HB2 contains language stipulating that the state, or any political subdivision of the state, shall not offer its employees any health care plan subject to the excise tax under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act unless the extra expense arising from such tax is borne by the plan participants. The expenses arising from the excise tax shall not be transferred to the public. This provision does NOT apply to any health insurance plan in effect when the state budget becomes effective.

Career and Tech Ed Centers

HB25, the capital budget, continues to reflect the state's commitment to renovating the regional centers, budgeting $3,025,000 for Dover and $4,875,000 for Somersworth. These funds for CTE centers in Dover and Somersworth shall not be spent, obligated, or encumbered until such time as an action plan has received approval from the legislature's Capital Budget Overview Committee.

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NHSBA Policy Bills Heard This Week in the House

SB149 addresses negotiating student tuition contracts and the 'right-to-know' law. The bill was filed in response to a resolution adopted by the NHSBA Delegate Assembly: "NHSBA supports legislation amending RSA 91-A to allow school boards to consider, discuss, strategize and negotiate student tuition contracts confidentially, consistent with applicable provisions of RSA 91-A." SB149 adds this provision to the list of reasons for which a board may enter into nonpublic session. This bill has passed the Senate, and NHSBA testified in the House in support of the bill this week. Please contact members of the House Judiciary Committee and share your support of this bill.

SB151 will allow home educated pupils, who attend classes at a public school, to be included, proportionally, in the student count for adequacy aid calculations. These students are currently excluded from the pupil count, despite the fact that they are attending public school and utilizing the resources of the district. This bill was filed in response to a resolution adopted by the NHSBA Delegate Assembly: "NHSBA supports the state funding of a percentage of adequacy aid for home education students who attend public schools in New Hampshire. The funding percentage should be prorated based on the percentage of the day that home education students are attending classes in public schools." This bill has passed the Senate, and NHSBA testified in the House in support of the bill this week. Please contact members of the House Education Committee and share your support of this bill.

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Criminal History Records Check

HB346 authorizes the release of information regarding the presence or absence of any record of convictions of the applicant of any crimes or charges pending disposition, rather than the current report that only lists the presence of convictions for certain felonies. The bill requires the state police to release a copy of the records check to the SAU, school district, chartered public school, or public academy, rather than the current police report indicating the presence or absence of certain felony convictions. This week NHSBA testified in support of this bill that provides an appropriate expansion of information provided by the criminal history records check. Experience has shown that individuals charged with felonious assault may sometimes plead to a misdemeanor; such plea bargains are not revealed under the current law. The additional information supplied is not included in the hiring prohibitions specified in statute. The additional information is simply supplied to the district, which then uses this information to make a hiring decision. School districts are required to have a policy on criminal history checks and applicants are usually asked if they have ever been convicted of a crime. Applicants should truthfully disclose this information. The proposed legislation will help with those hiring decisions. The bill has passed the House and is now in the Senate Education Committee.

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Legislation Considered Next Week includes:

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

HOUSE EDUCATION, 207, LOB

9:30 a.m. SB 157-FN, relative to encouraging high school students to take and pass a United States citizenship test.

10:15 a.m. SB 190-FN, relative to payment of costs for career and technical education center programs and administration by the department of education.

11:00 a.m. SB 227, relative to calculating the cost of an adequate education

SENATE EDUCATION, Room 103, LOB

9:00 a.m. HB 124, relative to the implementation of new college and career readiness standards.

9:20 a.m. HB 519, establishing a committee to study department of education policies affecting dyslexic students.

9:40 a.m. HB 578-FN, relative to state board of education compliance with unfunded federal education mandates.

10:00 a.m. HB 563-FN, relative to funding for chartered public school pupils.

EXECUTIVE SESSION MAY FOLLOW