LEGISLATIVE NEWSLETTER

January 7, 2011

The 62nd Legislative Assembly was gaveled into session on Tuesday, January 4. With record revenue and ending balances, legislators will be challenged to balance increases in sustainable spending, taxation reductions, and saving for the future.

NDSBA expects to see bills relating to school approval, bullying, alternative teacher compensation plans, employee retirement plans, property tax reform, and education funding. Our bill tracking list will be updated daily as new bills are introduced, so check back often to get current information.

This week the House Education Committee heard HB1029 that deals with school approval. This bill was a product of the Interim Education Committee. The bill's purpose is to streamline the approval process so schools are notified early in the year as to their status and to provide penalties for noncompliance. It does, however, contain major changes to approval criteria. The most significant changes to current school approval law are:

1. All schools will be required to participate in and meet requirements of a school improvement process approved by DPI (formerly an accreditation requirement)

2. Background checks for employees with unsupervised contact with students will now be required

3. Approval report will now be a simple statement that a school meets six approval requirements and must be signed by principal, superintendent, and board president

4. Schools will permanently lose foundation aid for every day the compliance report is late! NDSBA supports streamlining reporting but has reservations about the extent of punitive action. We will be working with the subcommittee on this bill to balance accountability and consequences.

Senate Education heard SB2058 that supports a constitutional amendment creating a permanent funding source for ND scholarships by using interest from the foundation aid stabilization fund--this interest income currently goes into the state’s general fund. NDSBA supports the scholarships and a permanent funding source for the program. There will be other bills suggesting different funding sources so we will be evaluating benefits of each bill.

The Commission on Education Improvement bill has not been introduced yet but we expect to see it next week and hearings for it will likely begin the week of January 17.

DPI’s budget bill will be heard in Senate Appropriations on Monday, January 10, beginning at 8:30 a.m. The full hearing schedule is posted on this webpage each Friday.

NDSBA staff is proud to represent interests of local school boards. As always, we depend on our members to regularly communicate with their own legislators during the Session.

This newsletter will be updated most Fridays. There will be alerts posted during the week if necessary, so check the website often.

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