2001 SESSION

01-1051

04/01

HOUSE BILL 747-FN-LOCAL

COMMITTEE: Education

ANALYSIS

This bill:

I. Makes changes to the formula for calculating adequate education grants by using 3 years of statewide assessment program results administered in the third and sixth grades.

II. Provides that for each fiscal year the statewide cost of an adequate education for all pupils shall be adjusted by the 3-year average change in the implicit price deflator as calculated by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, United States Department of Commerce.

III. Provides that adequate education grant amounts made in each year of a biennium shall be equal.

IV. Repeals the January 2, 2003 repeal of the education property tax and the calculation of adequate education grant amounts, and the July 1, 2003 repeal of the education property tax hardship relief provisions.

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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

01-1051

04/01

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand One

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

1 School Money; Determination of Statewide Adequate Education Cost. Amend RSA 198:40, I to read as follows:

198:40 Determination of Per Pupil Adequate Education Cost and Adequate Education Grant.

I. For the biennium beginning July 1, [1999] 2003, and every biennium thereafter, the cost per pupil shall be established using the following formula:

(a) The department of education shall calculate the base expenditure per pupil for each school district that operates an elementary school by subtracting from the total expenditures at the elementary school level, tuition to other school districts or approved educational programs, capital costs and debt service on such costs, special education costs, food service costs, transportation costs, adult/continuing education and community services costs, and federal revenues not otherwise deducted. For each school district, this amount shall be divided by the average daily membership in attendance at the elementary school level to attain the base expenditure per pupil.

(b) The adequate education grant amount shall be calculated as follows:

(1) The department of education shall identify those school districts where [40 to 60 percent of the elementary pupils enrolled in the grades tested on the day testing began, achieved a scaled score, in the statewide educational improvement and assessment program administered pursuant to RSA 193-C, in all areas tested, equivalent to performance at the basic level or above], for each of the 3 previous years, a minimum of 11 pupils were assessed in each subject area of the statewide assessment program administered to pupils in the third and sixth grades. For each grade and year, the department shall determine the average percentage of pupils performing at the basic level or above. The average shall be based on the number of pupils enrolled on the test date. A basic level or above percentage for each district shall be computed using the average of each grade and year. Districts where the 3-year average performance at the basic level or above is between 50 percent and 70 percent shall be selected.

(2) From the school districts [identified] selected in subparagraph I(b)(1) of this section, the department of education shall then identify those school districts that have the lowest base expenditure per pupil as calculated pursuant to subparagraph I(a) and which represent, as nearly as possible, 50 percent of the average daily membership in attendance at the elementary level of the school districts identified in subparagraph I(b)(1) of this section.

(3) The department of education shall calculate [the] an average base cost per pupil of an adequate education at the elementary school level by multiplying the base expenditure per pupil of each school district identified in subparagraph I(b)(2) of this section by the average daily membership in attendance at each of the selected school districts, and add the results across all districts selected. This sum shall then be divided by the total average daily membership in attendance at the elementary school level in all of the selected school districts and the result shall be multiplied by .9025.

(4) The department shall calculate an alternative base cost per pupil of an adequate education at the elementary level by adjusting the base cost per pupil calculated in the immediately preceding biennium by the percentage of change in the 3 most recent years of the implicit price deflator index as published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, United States Department of Commerce.

(5) The base cost per pupil for the biennium shall be the lower of the base cost per pupil calculated in subparagraphs I(b)(3) and I(b)(4).

2 New Paragraph; School Money; Determination of Per Pupil Adequate Education Cost. Amend RSA 198:40 by inserting after paragraph III the following new paragraph:

IV. The statewide cost of an adequate education for all pupils as calculated in the first year of each biennium shall be the statewide cost of an adequate education for all pupils in the second year of each biennium.

3 Repeal. The following are repealed:

I. 1999, 338:21, relative to the repeal of the education property tax, and the determination of adequate education grants.

II. 1999, 338:22, relative to the repeal of education property tax hardship relief and related exemptions granted to the department of revenue administration.

III. 1999, 338:25, I-II, relative to the effective dates of the repeal of 1999, 338:21 and 1999, 338:22.

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

LBAO

01-1051

2/15/01

HB 747-FN-LOCAL - FISCAL NOTE

FISCAL IMPACT: