Legal Clips, [June 2007]The State of New Hampshire is set to meet a court-ordered July 1 deadline for defining an adequate education, after lawmakers agreed to a compromise proposal. The definition would bring kindergarten to all school districts, ending New Hampshire's status as the only state that doesn't offer kindergarten to every student.
However, the compromise weakened the Senate's proposed definition, which would have forced lawmakers to direct additional resources, such as experienced teachers and psychological services, to schools with “enhanced needs.” Those could have included schools with numerous non-native-English speakers or students with disabilities. The revised version simply directs a legislative committee to develop ways to identify "enhanced needs" schools and propose additional resources for those schools. “I have to express my deep regret that we're abandoning what I think is a much stronger statement,” says Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Iris Estabrook, who crafted the Senate version. “And we're doing that out of a fear of obligation, and I feel that's very sad.”
The compromise may also reflect the recent failure of Gov. John Lynch's push for a constitutional amendment on education funding. In a bid to bypass portions of a September state supreme court decision, Mr. Lynch proposed an amendment to allow the state to target aid to needy districts. While the court ruled that the state needs to pay for the full cost of an adequate education in all communities, the constitutional amendment would have given lawmakers broad authority over how much to spend. The court decision deemed the state's definition of an adequate education insufficient and gave lawmakers until July 1 to create a new one. If lawmakers had failed to reach an agreement, they risked losing control over education funding. The court threatened to draft its own school funding system. The new definition outlines the subjects that schools need to offer. At least once a decade, lawmakers will review and update those standards. The proposal also clears the way for lawmakers to determine the cost of an adequate education. A new committee would study the cost and report its recommendations to lawmakers by Feb.1, 2008. The committee would be made up of five House members, five senators, and someone from Governor John Lynch's office, negotiators agreed. Under the revised definition, the committee would also determine how to identify "enhanced needs" schools and propose additional resources.
Concord Monitor
By Sarah Liebowitz
[Full story]
[Editor’s Note: Background on New Hampshire’s long struggle over educational adequacy is available starting below.]
[NSBA School Law pages on New Hampshire saga]