Revision: March 21, 2011, midnight
HB 542-FN – AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE
15Mar2011… 0726h
2011 SESSION
04/05
HOUSE BILL 542-FN
AN ACT prohibiting a school district from requiring that a parent send his or her child to any school or program to which the parent may be conscientiously opposed.
This bill prohibits a school district from requiring that a parent send his or her child to any school or program to which the parent is conscientiously opposed.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
15Mar2011… 0726h
11-0828
04/05
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Eleven
AN ACT prohibiting a school district from requiring that a parent send his or her child to any school or program to which the parent may be conscientiously opposed.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 New Paragraph; Attendance by Pupil. Amend RSA 193:1 by inserting after paragraph IV the following new paragraph:
V. No school district shall compel a parent to send his or her child to any school or program to which he or she may be conscientiously opposed nor shall a school district approve or disapprove a parent’s education program or curriculum.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.
LBAO
11-0828
Revised 01/31/11
HB 542 FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT prohibiting a school district from requiring that a parent send his or her child to any school or program to which the parent may be conscientiously opposed.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Department of Education states this bill may reduce state education trust fund expenditures by an indeterminable amount, and have an indeterminable impact on local expenditures in FY 2012 and each year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on state, county, and local revenues, or county expenditures.
METHODOLOGY:
This bill removes compulsory school attendance for children between the ages of 6 and 16; repeals statutes relating to school district authority to make bylaws on truancy, nonattendance, exceptions for persons between 16 and 18 years of age who are unable to read and speak English, and the rulemaking and reporting requirements under the parents as teachers program. This bill also establishes an additional exception to the compulsory school attendance statute by providing that a child may be educated by a parent and establishes exceptions from prosecution for child in need of services (CHINS), neglect, and child endangerment charges for a parent who chooses to educate a child.
The Department of Education states it can not accurately estimate the fiscal impact of the proposed legislation because information is not available to determine the number of students that would be affected. The Department states state and local expenditures would be reduced in proportion to the number of students who would subsequently receive their educations outside of the public school system. The Department also states local expenditures would increase by the costs associated with obtaining warrants to place children who are illegally employed back into a public school.