New Hampshire School Boards Association
Legislative Bulletin
January 10, 2008
A Weekly Update of Important Activity in the Legislature
______________________________________
Education Adequacy Commission
As reported last week, the Commission has drafted preliminary work on “Universal Costs” associated with providing an Adequate Education. Estimates covering salary, instruction and administrative costs, EXCLUSIVE of special/extra needs for targeted populations, result in a per pupil cost of $3,334. This reflects a total state commitment of approximately $667 million, plus yet to be determined costs associated with at-risk and special needs populations. For your information, the current year FY 2008 allocation is approximately $890.4 million; $527.4 million in actual grants and $363 million via the statewide property tax. The Commission will continue its work throughout January, with a final report due February 1, 2008.
______________________________________
Labor Relations
Specific language for legislative labor proposals has now become available. NHSBA has many concerns with several bills that seek to implement changes in teacher dismissal and non-renewal, dispute resolution procedures for collective bargaining impasse, and unilaterally implement costs without local voter approval. Listed below are several important bills to monitor that have been scheduled in committees for consideration in early February:
HB 1469 – this bill is the same as SB 88 from last year. It reduces the minimum number of employees for a bargaining unit from 10 to 3, and requires the continuation of any pay plan in an agreement if a new agreement is not reached when the contract expires (statutory evergreen clause). The bill also adds, “matters directly related to safety considerations” as items to be bargained under the terms and conditions of employment, and removes “number of personnel” from managerial policy, making it subject to bargaining. (Assigned to House Labor; Sponsor: Rep. DeJoie)
HB 1436 - this bill requires collective bargaining agreements to contain an automatic continuation clause. (Assigned to House Labor; Sponsors: Reps. DiFruscia and Bishop)
HB 1344 – this bill mandates the use of binding arbitration for failed negotiations. (Assigned to House Labor; Sponsor: Rep. Mickelonis)
HB 1364 – this bill establishes a Neutral Impasse Panel to make final decisions on disputed cost items. (Assigned to House Labor; Sponsors: Reps. Burridge, Dunn, DeJoie, Reuschel, L. Hammond, Sen. DeVries, Kelly, D’Allesandro)
HB 1328 – this bill requires that all school employees receive due process and just cause protections as part of any disciplinary action. (Assigned to House Education; Sponsors: Reps. Dunn, Burridge, Espiefs)
HB 1330 – this bill requires showing just cause for non-renominations, removes the provision for review by the state board to be the exclusive remedy for a non-renewed teacher, changes the state board standard of review to uphold a local board’s decision from clearly erroneous to unjust or unreasonable, and removes the prohibition on non-renewal grievances from being subject to binding arbitration. (Assigned to House Education; Sponsors: Reps. Dunn, Espiefs, Burridge)
SB 374 – this bill also removes the provision for review by the state board to be the exclusive remedy for a non-renewed teacher, changes the state board standard of review to uphold a local board’s decision from clearly erroneous to unjust or unreasonable, and removes the prohibition on non-renewal grievances from being subject to binding arbitration. (Assigned to Senate Education; Sponsors: Senator Cilley, Rep. Dunn)
ACTION ITEM
Please contact your local representatives and senator and alert them to these bills. You may also contact members of the legislative committees with your general concerns and objections.
For members of House Labor Comm, see http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/committees/committeedetails.aspx?code=H11 and for members of House Education Comm. see http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/committees/committeedetails.aspx?code=H05 .
Reminder: NHSBA Delegate Assembly: The NHSBA Annual Delegate Assembly will be held Saturday, January 19, at the Local Government Center in Concord. It begins with an Early Bird Session from 10:45-11:45 on state retirement and legislative issues. A working lunch from noon – 1pm will feature Michael Resnick of the National School Boards Association, providing an update on federal issues. The Business Meeting and Resolutions are scheduled from 1-3:30. Call NHSBA at 228-2061 for more information, or register on-line at http://www.nhsba.org/calendar.asp .
For the complete text of any bill, go to http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/ns/billstatus/quickbill.html and enter the bill number, e.g. HB927 (no spaces!).
For more information on specific legislation, please call Dean Michener, NHSBA Director of Governmental Affairs at 603-228-2061, or email: deanm@nhsba.org.
|
