1993 SESSION 0763B
93-0889
04
HOUSE BILL NO.
INTRODUCED BY: Rep. Rothhaus of Hills 18; Rep. Kennedy of Merr 7
REFERRED TO: Education
AN ACT repealing the home education laws allowing the state board to adopt rules relative to home education, and making certain other changes relative to education.
ANALYSIS
This bill repeals the home education statutes, and authorizes the state board to adopt rules relating to home education programs, curriculum, and compulsory attendance. It also includes home education in those statutes which impose requirements on private schools.
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EXPLANATION: Matter added appears in bold italics.
Matter removed appears in [brackets].
Matter which is repealed and reenacted or all new appears in regular type.
0763B
93-0889
04
HB 657-FN-LOCAL
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the year of Our Lord one thousand
nine hundred and ninety-three
AN ACT
repealing the home education laws allowing the state board to adopt
rules relative to home education, and making certain other
changes relative to education.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Represen-
tatives in General Court convened:
1 New Paragraph; Rulemaking, State Board of Education. Amend 186:11 by inserting after paragraph XXXIV the following new paragraph:
XXXV. Home Education. Adopt rules, pursuant to RSA 541-A, relative to reasonable criteria for approving home education programs for the purpose of compulsory attendance requirements. The state board of education may, upon the request of a home educator, approve or disapprove such person's education program and curriculum.
2 Home Educators Included. Amend RSA 189:11 to read as follows:
189:11 Instruction in National and State History and Government. In all public [and], private and home schools in the state there shall be given regular courses of instruction in the history, government and constitutions of the United States and New Hampshire, including the
organization and operation of New Hampshire municipal, county and state government and of the federal government. Such instruction shall begin not later than the opening of the eighth grade and shall continue in high school as an identifiable component of a year's course in the history and government of the United States and New Hampshire.
3 Home Educators Included. Amend RSA 189:17 to read as follows:
189:17 Flags; Penalty. The school board shall supply a United States and a New Hampshire state flag; the flags shall be made not less than 5 feet in length, with a flagstaff and appliances for displaying the same, for every schoolhouse in the district in which a public school is taught, at the expense of the district. They shall prescribe rules and regulations for the proper custody, care and display of these flags; the regulations shall require that wherever possible, the United States flag and the New Hampshire state flag shall be displayed on separate staffs of equal height. When the flags are displayed on the same staff, the United States flag shall be displayed above the New Hampshire flag. The regulations shall further require that such flags shall be displayed prominently outside of the schoolhouse. When they are otherwise displayed, the flags shall be placed conspicuously in the principal room of assembly of the schoolhouse. The governing board of every private school shall supply a United States flag, such flag to be made not less than 5 feet in length, with a flagstaff and appliances for displaying same. They shall make provisions similar to those required in the public schools for the display of said flag. A parent providing home education for a child shall supply a United States flag. Such person shall make provisions similar to those required in the public schools for the display of the flag. Any members
of a school board or the governing board who shall refuse or neglect to comply with the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a violation.
4 Home Educators Included. Amend RSA 189:19 - 189:21 to read as follows:
189:19 English Required. In the instruction of children in all schools, including private and home schools, in reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, grammar, geography, physiology, history, civil government, music, and drawing, the English language shall be used exclusively, both for the purposes of instruction therein and for purposes of general administration. Educational programs in the field of bilingual education shall be permitted under the provisions of this section with the approval of the state board of education and the local school district.
189:20 Foreign Languages. A foreign language may be taught in elementary or home schools; provided, that the course of study (or its equivalent) outlined by the state board in the branches named in RSA 189:19 be not abridged but be taught in compliance with the law of the state.
189:21 Language of Devotional Exercises in Private Schools. The exclusive use of English for purposes of instruction and administration shall not prohibit the conduct of devotional exercises in private or home schools in a language other than English.
5 Home Educators Included. Amend RSA 189:27-a and 189:27-b to read as follows:
189:27-a Computerization of Pupil Registers. School boards, or the governing persons or governing bodies of public academies or nonpublic or home schools, may choose to maintain pupil registration and enrollment information through the use of a computer, instead of using a
register provided by the state board of education. The software program for any such computer application shall be capable of providing in printed form at least the information required by RSA 186:11, VI.
189:27-b Retention of Pupil Registers. Pupil registers, whether kept manually or by means of a computer, shall be retained as a permanent record of the school district, public academy or nonpublic or home school. When a computer is used, the permanent record shall consist, at a minimum, of a paper printout.
6 Home Educators Included. Amend RSA 194:31 to read as follows:
194:31 Registers; Reports. All academies, private schools, home schools, and public schools shall be furnished with copies of the school register, and shall make an annual statistical report to the department of education by September 1. The school board of every school district or city, and the board of trustees of approved public academies shall have a 30-day grace period if it fails to file the report due under this section by September 1. At the end of 30 days the commissioner of the department of education shall notify the governing body that all state aid to education for the upcoming fiscal year shall be withheld until the report is filed.
7 Repeal. RSA 193-A, relative to home education, is repealed.
8 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 1994.
LBAO
LSR 93-0889
1/7/93
FISCAL NOTE for an act repealing the home education laws allowing the state board to adopt rules relative to home education, and making certain other changes relative to education.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Department of Education has determined this bill will increase state general fund expenditures by $941,850 in FY 1994, $1,088,861 in FY 1995, $1,257,588 in FY 1996 and by $1,454,336 in FY 1997. Local expenditures will decrease by $792,225 in FY 1994, $914,660 in FY 1995, $1,057,254 in FY 1996 and by $1,221,472 in FY 1997. There will be no fiscal impact on state, county and local revenue or on county expenditures.
METHODOLOGY:
The Department assumes that this bill requires that home education programs would be established as home schools subject to the same statutes as private schools, that all home schools would therefore be subject to applicable review and on-site verification, and that all home education programs would be required to file an annual report which would be reviewed by the Department. Also, home education will grow by 10% each year and costs will increase by 5% each year. Currently, 1,630 students (1,372 of whom are affiliated with public schools, 250 with private schools and 8 with the Department) are being home educated. If the average family home educated 2 children, then 815 (1/2 of 1,630) families would be eligible for home school designation the first year. It currently costs $500 per child for acknowledgement and evaluation procedures and $1,000 per family for a home school review.
For example:
In FY 1994, the cost to school districts (reflecting only home education programs supervised by public schools would be: 1,509 students @525 =792,225. The cost to the state (reflecting all home education programs would be: 897 families @1,050 =941,850.