HB664 (2006) Detail

Mandating open enrollment in all school districts.


HB 664-FN-LOCAL – AS INTRODUCED

2005 SESSION

05-0728

04/10

HOUSE BILL 664-FN-LOCAL

AN ACT mandating open enrollment in all school districts.

SPONSORS: Rep. W. P. Campbell, Straf 3

COMMITTEE: Education

ANALYSIS

This bill removes the residency requirements for school attendance and requires that all elementary and secondary schools be open enrollment schools.

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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

05-0728

04/10

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Five

AN ACT mandating open enrollment in all school districts.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 Charter and Open Enrollment Schools. Amend RSA 194-B:1, VI to read as follows:

VI. “Open enrollment public school” or “open enrollment school” means any public school which, [in addition to providing] provides educational services to pupils residing within its [attendance] area or district, or chooses to accept pupils from other [attendance] areas within its district and from outside its district.

2 Charter and Open Enrollment Schools. Amend RSA 194-B:1-a, II to read as follows:

II. Encourage school districts to allow public charter [and open enrollment] schools.

3 Charter and Open Enrollment Schools. Amend the introductory paragraph to RSA 194-B:4, I to read as follows:

I. Any school district may adopt the provisions of RSA 194-B, to adopt a charter [and open enrollment] school program, in the following manner:

4 Charter and Open Enrollment Schools. Amend RSA 194-B:9, V to read as follows:

V. [For districts having enabled only the open enrollment provisions of this chapter,] The school board shall have the authority to establish [rules] procedures to implement open enrollment.

5 Charter and Open Enrollment Schools. Amend RSA 194-B:11, I to read as follows:

I. There shall be no tuition charge for any pupil attending an [open enrollment] ] a public elementary or secondary school or charter conversion school located in that pupil’s resident district. Funding limitations in this chapter shall not be applicable to charter conversion or [open enrollment] public elementary or secondary schools located in a pupil’s resident district. For any other charter [or open enrollment] school authorized by the school district, the pupil’s resident district shall pay to such school an amount equal to not less than 80 percent of that district’s average cost per pupil as determined by the department of education using the most recent available data as reported by the district to the department. For attendance at any charter school authorized by the state board of education, the pupil’s resident district shall pay tuition beginning July 1, 2004 and every fiscal year thereafter, in an amount per pupil equal to the amount determined in RSA 198:40, I. If this amount exceeds the average costs per pupil in the receiving district, then such excess shall be returned to the pupil’s resident district. If this amount is less than the average cost per pupil in the receiving district, the school board of the receiving district may opt to accept such amount as full payment of tuition for the school year or may require the parent or legal guardian to pay the difference, or a portion therof. Tuition amounts shall be prorated on a per diem basis for pupils attending a school for less than a full school year. To the extent permitted by law, tuition payments shall coincide with the distribution of adequacy grants under RSA 198:42 or on such other terms as are mutually acceptable.

6 District Liability for Elementary or Junior High School Tuition. Amend RSA 193:4 to read as follows:

193:4 District Liability for Elementary or Junior High School Tuition. Any district shall pay for the tuition of any pupil who, as a resident of the district, has been assigned to attend a public elementary or junior high school or school of corresponding grade in another district and any district not maintaining an elementary or junior high school or school of corresponding grade shall pay for the tuition of any pupil as provided in RSA 194-B:11, I who, as a resident of the district, after full investigation by the state board of education is determined to be entitled to have such tuition paid by the district where the pupil resides, and who attends an approved public elementary or junior high school or public school of corresponding grade in another district. Except under contract the liability of any school district under this section for the tuition of any pupil shall be the current expenses of operation of the receiving district for its elementary or junior high school or public school of corresponding grade, as estimated by the state board of education for the preceding school year. This current expense of operation shall include all costs except costs of transportation of pupils.

7 Pupils; Legal Residence Required. RSA 193:12 is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:

193:12 Legal Residence Required.

I. For purposes of this section, the legal residence of a pupil shall be as follows:

(a) In the case of a minor, legal residence is where his or her parents reside, except that:

(1) If the parents live apart and are not divorced, legal residence is the residence of the parent with whom the child resides.

(2) In a divorce decree where parents are awarded joint legal custody the legal residence of a minor child is the residence of the parent with whom the child resides. If a parent is awarded sole or primary physical custody by a court of competent jurisdiction in this or any other state, legal residence of a minor child is the residence of the parent who has sole or primary physical custody. If the parent with sole or primary physical custody lives outside the state of New Hampshire, the pupil does not have residence in New Hampshire.

(3) If the minor is in the custody of a legal guardian appointed by a New Hampshire court of competent jurisdiction or a court of competent jurisdiction in another state, territory, or country, legal residence is where the guardian resides. If the department of health and human services has been appointed legal guardian, the residence of the minor is where the child is placed by the department or the court. Legal guardianship shall not be appointed solely for the purpose of allowing a pupil to attend school in a district other than the district of residence of the minor’s parent or parents. Whenever a petition for guardianship or legal custody is filed in a court of competent jurisdiction on behalf of a relative of a child, other than a parent, the child shall be permitted to attend school in the district in which the relative of the child resides pending a court determination relative to custody or guardianship.

(b) No minor placed in a home for children or health care facility, as defined in RSA 193:27, by another state which charges the state of New Hampshire, a political subdivision of the state of New Hampshire, or a New Hampshire school district, for the regular or special education costs for New Hampshire children placed in that state, shall be deemed a legal resident for purposes of school assignment, unless the sending state agrees to reimburse the receiving district, as defined in RSA 193:27, for regular education and special education costs.

II. For the purposes of this title, “legal resident” of a school district means a natural person who is domiciled in the school district and who, if temporarily absent, demonstrates an intent to maintain a principal dwelling place in the school district indefinitely and to return there, coupled with an act or acts consistent with that intent. A married person may have a domicile independent of the domicile of his or her spouse. If a person removes to another town with the intention of remaining there indefinitely, that person shall be considered to have lost residence in the town in which the person originally resided even though the person intends to return at some future time. A person may have only one legal residence at a given time.

III. For the purposes of this section, the legal residence of a child of homeless parents is where the child temporarily resides unless the parents and another school district agree that the child’s attendance in school in that school district will be in the best interests of the child in that continuity of education will be provided and transportation will not be unduly burdensome to the school district. “A child of homeless parents’’ means a child whose parents:

(a) Lack a fixed, regular and adequate residence; or

(b) Have a primary nighttime residence in a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter for temporary accommodations such as public assistance hotels, emergency shelters, battered women’s shelters, and transitional housing facilities, or a public or private place not designated for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.

IV. Except as provided in subparagraph II(b), nothing in this section shall limit or abridge the right of any child placed and cared for in any home for children, as defined in RSA 193:27, or of any child placed in the home of a relative of that child by the department of health and human services, or placed in the home of a relative or friend by a court pursuant to RSA 169-B, RSA 169-C, RSA 169-D, or RSA 463, to attend the public schools of the school district in which the home for children or home of the relative or friend in which a child is placed by the department of health and human services or by a court of competent jurisdiction is located, as provided in RSA 193:28.

V. Whenever a parent or guardian voluntarily places a child with a relative at the recommendation or request of the department of health and human services, that child shall be permitted to attend the public schools of the school district in which that relative resides provided that:

(a) Upon request of the school district, the department of health and human services shall confirm that the department recommended or requested that the child be placed with the relative to promote the child’s well being, and not for the purpose of allowing the child to attend school in the district where the relative resides; and

(b) Upon request of the school district, the relative shall take reasonable steps to secure a court award of guardianship over the child, the child being allowed to attend school in that district while the relative seeks guardianship.

VI. Whenever a dispute arises between 2 or more school districts as to the residency of a child who is in the legal custody or guardianship of the department of health and human services, or who has been placed pursuant to a court order in a proceeding under RSA 169-B, RSA 169-C, RSA 169-D, or RSA 463, the department of health and human services may request in writing that the respective superintendents resolve the dispute. If the residency dispute remains unresolved 10 days after such request, the department of health and human services may request that the commissioner of the department of education determine the residence of the child. The child may attend school in the district in which the child has been placed by the court or the department of health and human services pending the resolution of the residency dispute. Liability as to the cost of school attendance provided under this paragraph shall be determined by the commissioner of education.

VII. If more than one school district is involved in a residency dispute or the parents who live apart cannot agree on the residence of a minor child, the respective superintendents shall jointly make such decision. In those instances when an agreement cannot be reached in a timely manner, the commissioner of education shall make a determination and such determination shall be final. No school district shall deny a pupil implementation of an existing individual education plan. A pupil shall remain in attendance in the pupil’s school of origin during the pendency of a determination of residency and shall be counted in the average daily membership in residence in the district of residence. In this paragraph, “school of origin’’ means the school the child attended when permanently housed or the school in which the child was last enrolled. Notwithstanding the provisions of RSA 21-N:11, III any person aggrieved by a determination of the commissioner may appeal such determination to a court of competent jurisdiction.

VIII. Nothing in this section shall require a district to provide transportation for a student beyond the geographical limits of that district.

IX. Each school district shall adopt an admission and attendance of students policy.

X. The commissioner of education may enter into agreements with other states relative to liability for educational costs, including special education costs, of students placed in New Hampshire by those states, or of students placed outside the state of New Hampshire.

XI. For the purpose of determining liability for a child placed and cared for in any home for children or health care facility, the provisions of RSA 193:29 shall apply.

8 Repeal. The following are repealed:

I. RSA 194-B:2, I, providing that a school district legislative body may vote to designate a school as an open enrollment school.

II. RSA 194-B:2, III, relative to requiring that no public school shall be required to be an open enrollment school.

9 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.

LBAO

05-0728

Revised 2/2/05

HB 664 FISCAL NOTE

AN ACT mandating open enrollment in all school districts.

FISCAL IMPACT:

      The Department of Education indicates this bill will have an indeterminable fiscal impact on local revenue and expenditures in FY 2006 and each year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on state and county revenue or expenditures.

METHODOLOGY:

    The Department indicates the fiscal impact will depend on the number of pupils who elect to attend a school out of their district of residence and where they choose to attend. A high concentration of students leaving a school or attending a different school could result in changes in local school district revenue and expenditures. The potential fiscal impact cannot be estimated.

    The Department states that in the one example of open enrollment in the state, Monadnock Regional School District, 34 students chose to leave the Keene School District for the Monadnock Regional School District and the exact amount, 34, chose to leave the Monadnock Regional for the Keene School District.