sb 0068

CHAPTER 294

SB 68 - FINAL VERSION

AN ACT relative to school district placements of children living in foster homes.

SPONSORS: Sen. Gordon, Dist 2; Rep. Gabler, Graf 8; Rep. B. Williams, Graf 8

This bill permits children who are in court-ordered placements to continue attending the school that they attended prior to the placement if continuing in the same school is in their best interest as determined by the court, if the home is within a reasonable distance of the school, and if suitable transportation arrangements can be made.

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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

AN ACT relative to school district placements of children living in foster homes.

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

I. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall attend school, or send a pupil to the school, in any district of which the pupil is not a legal resident, without the consent of the district or of the school board except as otherwise provided in this section or in RSA 193:28.

294:2 Education of Children Placed in Homes for Children, Health Care Facilities, or State Institutions; Right of Attendance. Amend RSA 193:28 to read as follows:

193:28 Right of Attendance. Whenever any child is placed and cared for in any home for children, or is placed by the department of health and human services in the home of a relative or friend of such child pursuant to RSA 169-B, RSA 169-C, RSA 169-D, or RSA 463, such child, if of school age, shall be entitled to attend:

I. The public schools of the school district that the child attended prior to placement, if continuing in the same school district is in the best interest of the child as determined by the court, if the home is within a reasonable distance of the school to be attended, and if suitable transportation can be arranged without imposing additional transportation costs on a school district or the department of health and human services; or

II. The public schools of the school district in which said home is located, unless such placement was solely for the purpose of enabling a child residing outside said district to attend such schools, provided that the school district for a child placed in a group home, as defined in RSA 170-E:25, II(b), within a cooperative school district, shall be the cooperative school district, not the pre-existing district within the cooperative.