Revision: Jan. 7, 2019, 2:54 p.m.
HB 375 - AS INTRODUCED
2019 SESSION
19-0257
06/04
HOUSE BILL 375
AN ACT relative to policies regarding chartered public schools.
SPONSORS: Rep. Horrigan, Straf. 6
COMMITTEE: Education
-----------------------------------------------------------------
ANALYSIS
This bill:
I. Provides that certain duties of the state board of education extend to chartered public schools.
II. Requires chartered public schools that have computer systems to adopt a policy that outlines acceptable use.
III. Requires chartered public schools to authorize a time for the recitation of the pledge of allegiance.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
19-0257
06/04
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Nineteen
AN ACT relative to policies regarding chartered public schools.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 State Board of Education; Duties. Amend RSA 186:11, II to read as follows:
II. Supervision. Supervise the expenditure of all moneys appropriated for public schools and chartered public schools, and inspect all institutions in which or by which such moneys are used.
2 State Board of Education; Duties. Amend RSA 186:11, IX-b-IX-d to read as follows:
IX-b. Health and Sex Education. Require school districts and chartered public schools to adopt a policy allowing an exception to a particular unit of health or sex education instruction based on religious objections. Such policy shall include a provision for alternative learning sufficient to enable the child to meet state requirements for health education.
IX-c. Require school districts and chartered public schools to adopt a policy allowing an exception to specific course material based on a parent's or legal guardian's determination that the material is objectionable. Such policy shall include a provision requiring the parent or legal guardian to notify the school principal or designee in writing of the specific material to which they object and a provision requiring an alternative agreed upon by the school district or chartered public school and the parent, at the parent's expense, sufficient to enable the child to meet state requirements for education in the particular subject area. The policy shall also require the school district, chartered public school, or classroom teacher to provide parents and legal guardians not less than 2 weeks advance notice of curriculum course material used for instruction of human sexuality or human sexual education. The policy shall address the method of delivering notification to a parent or legal guardian. To the extent practicable, a school district or chartered public school shall make curriculum course materials available to parents or legal guardians for review upon request. The name of the parent or legal guardian and any specific reasons disclosed to school officials for the objection to the material shall not be public information and shall be excluded from access under RSA 91-A.
IX-d. Require school districts and chartered public schools to adopt a policy governing the administration of non-academic surveys or questionnaires to students. The policy shall require school districts and chartered public schools to notify a parent or legal guardian of a non-academic survey or questionnaire and its purpose. The policy shall provide that no student shall be required to volunteer for or submit to a non-academic survey or questionnaire, as defined in this paragraph, without written consent of a parent or legal guardian unless the student is an adult or an emancipated minor. The policy shall include an exception from the consent requirement for the youth risk behavior survey developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The policy shall also allow a parent or legal guardian to opt-out of the youth risk behavior survey developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The school district or chartered public school shall make such surveys or questionnaires available, at the school and on the school or school district's website, for review by a student's parent or legal guardian at least 10 days prior to distribution to students. In this paragraph, "non-academic survey or questionnaire" means surveys, questionnaires, or other documents designed to elicit information about a student's social behavior, family life, religion, politics, sexual orientation, sexual activity, drug use, or any other information not related to a student's academics.
3 State Board of Education; Duties. Amend RSA 186:11, XVII to read as follows:
XVII. District Contracts. Examine contracts made by districts with academies, high schools, chartered public schools, and other literary institutions, for the purpose of deciding whether they are calculated to promote the cause of education.
4 State Board of Education; Duties. Amend RSA 186:11, XXXII to read as follows:
XXXII. Learning Disability Teacher. Establish the qualifications, conditions, and exceptions for providing a learning disability teacher in each school district and chartered public school.
5 State Board of Education; Duties. Amend RSA 186:11, XXXVI and XXXVII to read as follows:
XXXVI. Pupil Safety and Violence Prevention. Develop and distribute to school districts and chartered public schools a technical assistance advisory for the purpose of providing guidance to school districts on the implementation of pupil safety and violence prevention policies as required under RSA 193-F.
XXXVII. School Resource Officers. Require each school district and chartered public school in the state to which a school resource officer is assigned to develop and implement a policy which shall include, at a minimum, a requirement for a signed memorandum of understanding between the school district or chartered public school and the law enforcement agency from which the school resource officer is deployed.
6 Powers and Duties of School Districts; Computer Networks. Amend RSA 194:3-d to read as follows:
194:3-d School District Computer Networks.
I. Every school district and chartered public school which has computer systems or networks shall adopt a policy which outlines the intended appropriate and acceptable use, as well as the inappropriate and illegal use, of the school [district] district's or charter public school's computer systems and networks including, but not limited to, the Internet.
II. All users of a school district's or a charter public school's computer systems or networks who intentionally violate the district's policy and who intentionally damage the computer system or network shall assume legal and financial liability for such damage. For purposes of this section, "user'' means any person authorized to access the school district's or charter public school's computer systems or networks including, but not limited to, the Internet.
7 Powers and Duties of School Districts; New Hampshire School Patriot Act. Amend RSA 194:15-c, II to read as follows:
II. A school district and a charter public school shall authorize a period of time during the school day for the recitation of the pledge of allegiance. Pupil participation in the recitation of the pledge of allegiance shall be voluntary.
8 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2020.