LEGISLATIVE NEWSLETTER

April 28, 2011

NDSBA/NDCEL POST-LEGISLATIVE MEETINGS

NDSBA and NDCEL will be holding post-legislative meetings beginning on May 4. The purpose of these meetings is to provide explanations about bills that passed and those that were defeated. School board members, administrators, and business managers are encouraged to attend one of the informational meetings.

The May 12 presentation will be “video streamed” and information on how it may be viewed will be available on the NDCEL website.

May 4	6:30 p.m.	FARGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS District Office Board Room 415 N 4th Street
May 11	6:30 p.m.	MINOT PUBLIC SCHOOLS District Office Conference Room 215 2nd Street SE
May 12	6:30 p.m.	BISMARCK PUBLIC SCHOOLS Hughes Educational Center Board Room 806 N Washington Street

We look forward to seeing you.

LEGISLATORS COMPLETE THEIR WORK

This final edition of the Legislative Newsletter will provide an update on activities since April 21. For updates on previous legislative action, you can access past issues of the Legislative Newsletter from the link at the top of this page.

The 62nd Legislative Session came to an end on its 78th day. While K-12 bills were among the final 25, there was little debate or opposition to passage of SB2150 (policy bill) or SB2013 (DPI budget bill). Conference committees on these two bills worked professionally and efficiently to produce final products that received wide support on the floor of both chambers.

SB2150, as it passed the House and Senate, contains 47 Sections. We will not attempt to summarize the entire bill here, but all board members, administrators, and business managers should review SB2150 and SB2013 thoroughly. Following are the final decisions pertaining to issues that garnered the most interest among our members.

What is in the final version

Foundation aid payments are $3,910 and $3,980.
Restores $2.5 million in contingent transportation funds bringing the contingency payout back up to $5 million.
Establishes a.006 factor to fully fund Power School--including those contracted to acquire it during upcoming school years. These Power School payments will go directly from DPI to ITD. There will no longer be a “technology factor.”
Returns required calendar days to182--including 175 instructional days--beginning in 2011-12.
Increases the special education factor to .079, effective July 1, 2012.
Provides $300,000 in grants for eligible alternative middle school programs in 2012-13.
Establishes a .15 factor per student enrolled in an alternative middle school program for at least an average of 15 hours per week. This factor is for the 2013-15 school years only--it may or may not be available after June 30, 2015.
Provides $5 million from the oil and gas impact grant fund to assist districts with rapid enrollment growth of at least 7% (minimum of 25 new students) based on fall enrollment. At this point, these grants are only available during the 2011-13 biennium.
Requires and funds the writing portion of the ACT test for academic scholarship eligibility.
Alters the explanation of computing districts’ 70% of state aid that has to go to teacher compensation.

What is NOT in the final version

Supplemental Teacher Effectiveness Compensation plans (language and funding)
Deferred maintenance grants
Compulsory kindergarten and attendance to age 17
Principal mentorship
Writing test for Career and Technical scholarships

SB2013 includes legislative intent language making it clear that the state will not continue or replace money received by districts as a result of the Federal Jobs Bill. As was true with other stimulus funds, districts may not budget Jobs money for ongoing contract expenses.

Although we lost the battle to begin developing alternative compensation systems, overall SB2150 and SB2013 provide well for K-12 education. Ever since a K-12 comprehensive policy bill has been developed by the Commission on Education Improvement and the Governor’s office, great care has been taken to cover expenses of new or expanded programs. Provision for the Commission to continue was not included in SB2150 and its authorization expired December 31, 2010. It is really a step backward to return to haphazard bills being introduced with no continuity, context, or comprehensive calculation of cost to districts. It is also unfortunate that the Governor’s budget recommendations for K-12 will no longer be tied to well studied initiatives. We are extremely sorry to see the process stymied by the legislature’s unwillingness to recognize the value of the Commission.

A bill that languished painfully in conference committee for 12 frustrating meetings was HB1229, affectionately referred to as the “abstinence” bill. We won’t ponder in this publication the motives behind introduction of this bill, but they were abundantly clear to anyone who sat through the difficult conference committee meetings. It was NDSBA’s position that schools choosing to teach sex education as part of their comprehensive health curriculum already emphasize abstinence from sexual activity as the healthiest choice for adolescents and that the legislature was overreaching by referencing mandatory curriculum content in North Dakota Century Code. However, the majority-party Senate conferees would not move from their position that specific abstinence concepts should be taught and they should only be taught referencing marriage. In the end, House amendments were adopted by the committee (with the help of the two Education chairs and legislative leadership) that succeeded in softening the language although the word “marriage” remained in the bill. Aside from Senator Luick and Representative RaeAnn Kelsch who brought the bill to the floor of their respective chambers, only Senator Triplett spoke on the bill saying, “I will be voting against the bill. This kind of health care teaching has been going on in the state for a long time…we’re not reinventing the wheel here; we’re adding a value judgment to it.”

It is important to note that the final version of HB1229 only requires inclusion of stated abstinence concepts but does NOT require abstinence-only instruction.

Other action this week:

HB1047 (Property tax relief grants) was signed by the Governor

SB2311 (Teacher of the Year) was signed by the Governor

HB1194 (Public budget hearings) passed the House and Senate

HB1248 (Military Compact) passed the House and Senate

HB1134 (TFFR) passed the House and Senate

While several bills that passed this Session contain new responsibilities for local school districts, NDSBA knows that board members, administrators, business managers, and teachers will rise to the challenge. We have great confidence in your dedication to students in your schools.

As this legislative session ends, it is worth taking a moment to review a list of bills (that would have been very challenging for local school districts) which were successfully killed.

HB1143 required one full unit of World History for graduation

HB1272 limited property tax increases to 3% annually

HB1293 required strict limitations on property valuation growth

HB1342 required school district budgets to be placed on a ballot annually

HB1398 severely limited TFFR benefits for administrators

HB1412 required personal finance courses be taught at specific grade levels

HB1449 required school districts to submit budget information to the state budget director

Thank you to board members who maintained open communications with their legislators this Session. Your input makes all the difference!

Everyone has access to bill topics and texts, hearing schedules, and bill status reports at the Legislature’s Web site. NDSBA’s Web site includes this weekly Legislative Newsletter, hearing schedules for the upcoming week, and the list of bills NDSBA is tracking. Updated information will be posted Thursday or Friday each week depending on when information becomes available.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

ND State Web site: www.nd.gov

ND Legislative Information Web site: www.legis.nd.gov

Legislature Toll Free # 1-888-635-3447

Bismarck Legislative # 328-3373