HB 612-FN – AS INTRODUCED
2005 SESSION
04/09
HOUSE BILL 612-FN
AN ACT establishing the New Hampshire volunteer elementary teachers and students program.
This bill establishes the New Hampshire volunteer elementary teachers and students program within the department of education. This program allows interested and eligible individuals to team teach students in elementary school.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
05-0107
04/09
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Five
AN ACT establishing the New Hampshire volunteer elementary teachers and students program.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 New Subdivision; Volunteer Elementary Teachers and Students Program. Amend RSA 193 by inserting after section 37 the following new subdivision:
Volunteer Elementary Teachers and Students Program
193:38 Volunteer Elementary Teachers and Students Program.
I. There is hereby established the New Hampshire volunteer elementary teachers and students program (“VETS”) which may be implemented within the school districts of this state. The VETS program shall be comprised of any eligible individual interested in participating. The VETS program shall be designed to increase the number of teachers in each classroom available to team teach elementary school students by engaging any interested and qualified citizen to participate in the education through team teaching of elementary school children under the supervision of a credentialed teacher. Citizens who participate in the VETS program may earn course credit for the time spent teaching from any cooperating college or university.
II. VETS program participants shall be exempt from certification and credentialing standards for educational personnel established in RSA 21-N:9 and RSA 186:11 and shall be deemed to be qualified to teach for the purposes of the VETS program.
III. A school district, in cooperation with the participating college or university shall establish:
(a) Procedures for creating appropriate forms for making an application to join the VETS program.
(b) Procedures for making classroom assignments for supervising teachers and VETS program participants.
(c) Methods for evaluating applicants and those who participate in the VETS program.
(d) Procedures for allowing high school students who participate in the VETS program to earn high school and college course credit for their participation.
(e) Minimum standards for qualification to participate in the VETS program.
(f) A reasonable administrative fee paid by the school district to the participating college or university to offset transactional costs.
(g) Procedures for determining how participating supervising teachers will be paid.
193:39 Report. No later than October 1 of each year, a school district participating in the program shall submit a report to the commissioner of the department of education who shall submit a report to the house and senate education committees no later than November 1 of each year detailing the status and activities of the VETS programs during the year as set forth in this subdivision.
2 New Section; University System; Participation in the Volunteer Elementary Teachers and Students Program. Amend RSA 187-A by inserting after section 10-a the following new section:
187-A:10-b Participation in the Volunteer Elementary Teachers and Students Program. Each component institution within the university system may offer course credit at no charge to the student, to be determined by the institution and at no charge, to any qualified citizen who participates in the volunteer elementary teachers and students program as set forth in RSA 193:38. A component institution within the university system may impose a reasonable fee on the school district to offset transactional costs.
3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
LBAO
05-0107
Revised 2/24/05
HB 612 FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT establishing the New Hampshire volunteer elementary teachers and students program.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The University System of New Hampshire and the Department of Education indicate this bill may increase state revenue, state expenditures and local expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2006 and each year thereafter. There will no fiscal impact on county and local revenue or county expenditures.
METHODOLOGY:
This bill provides that the System may offer course credit at no charge to students and citizens involved in the volunteer elementary teachers and students program, and if it does, it may charge a reasonable fee to the school district to offset transactional costs. The System cannot estimate the number of courses that may be taken by participants in the program, and the amount the System would charge school districts but notes the cost of a typical course is $728.
The Department of Education states that according to NH Partners in Education there are approximately 50,000 school volunteers and all but a small number work in elementary schools. The Department assumes it will expend $4,400 per year to perform program review and to develop and issue the required annual report.