New Laws Taking Effect Now – Make sure you know what changes are coming!
The legislature may not be in session, but things are still happening. To wrap up this past year we have assembled a list of legislation that was signed into law that directly affects public education, educators, and students.
Please look at the list which is organized by category and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out by e-mailing me at bhawkins@nhnea.org.
State Board of Education Minimum Standards Overhaul Headed to Legislative Rules Committee
Next week the Joint Legislative Committee on Rules, will evaluate the State Board of Education’s Final Proposal on the first half of the minimum standards for public school approval (also known as the 306 Rules) on Thursday, September 19th. In what has been a multi-year process of educators, parents, and students continuing to express concerns about Commissioner Edelblut’s proposed overhaul to these minimum standards, we maintain that the State Board’s final proposal continues to cause significant concern for what it will mean for students, including concerns raised by Reaching Higher NH that the Final Proposal:
- Weakens requirements for curriculum and programs: The NHED proposal removes requirements for curriculum and programs and would make them optional by shifting language from “shall” to “may”.
- Replaces “courses” with “learning opportunities”: The NHED proposal removes “courses” throughout the document and replaces the term with “learning opportunities,” which is a vague term that could diminish the level rigor for students. While they did define “learning opportunities” to include courses, the removal of “courses” as a minimum standard for public schools may lead to confusion and inconsistent applications between school districts.
- Changes class size requirements: The NHED proposal removes maximum class sizes, replacing it with a student-teacher ratio based on a certain number of students per teacher in the district. While it would mandate a certain number of teachers per student, it does not put a maximum number of students in each classroom. A state attorney flagged the removal of maximum class sizes as being “very broad,” contrary to the state’s obligation to offer a constitutionally adequate education, and noted that it would have fiscal implications and could not be uniformly enforced.
- Broadens alternative courses of study: The NHED proposal changes the definition of “alternative programs” to a broader one and would require the school district to pay for the alternative if a student chose to pursue it. There are open questions about whether the definition would now be so broad that any “learning opportunity” that a student chose would have to be funded by the local school district.
- Impacts instructional needs of students: The NHED proposal removes the requirement for school boards to adopt policies requiring that schools meet the instructional needs of each individual student.
The legislative rules committee responsible for evaluating all administrative rules will now evaluate these rules and determine whether to approve them, issue an objection, or request changes to meet approval. Objections are supposed to be issued if the committee determines that the rule changes are:
- Beyond and Agency’s Authority
- Contrary to Legislative Intent
- Contrary to Public Interest
- There is economic impact of the Rules not recognized by the Agency or Board in their statement to the legislature
We believe this final proposal continues to try to make policy that is beyond its authority in the law, contrary to the intent of the legislature when they crafted our public education statutes, contrary to the public interest because it creates inequitable watered-down standards for students, and unresponsive to the concerns raised by educators, students, and parents.
Veto Day
Governor Sununu also vetoed several pieces of legislation this summer, including HB 1093, which would have prohibited mandatory mask policies in schools. This was a nearly identical bill to one passed by the legislature last year which the Governor vetoed as well. The Legislature will be back in session to attempt to override this veto – and others – on Thursday, October 10th.
Filing New Legislation
The pre-election filing period for House incumbents just closed. There will be another filing period that opens for the House and Senate after the election, but you can look at what has been filed already for next year by going to the General Court website. As you will see there are some familiar themes for bill requests that are troubling and illustrate why it will be so important to make sure we get out and vote for pro-public education candidates in November. Be sure to look out in the mail and online in October for our Fall Educator edition that will contain all the NEA-NH candidate recommendations from the top to bottom of the ballot. You can also see our updates about the 2024 elections here.