NH Senate Bill 268 (LSR 2801)

an act raising the age of required attendance of children in school and establishing a 2-year pilot program for increasing vocational education opportunities in the Manchester and Nashua school districts and making an appropriation therefor.

last updated 10/10/06, 8:00 AM

Analysis

This bill would:

raise the age of compulsory attendance to 18 effective July 1, 2008. Homeschoolers still be able to use RSA 193-A for children ages 16 and 17 (amendment recommended by Senate Education Committee).
allow students ages 16 and 17 to have "alternative learning plans" as an alternative to attendance at a public school.
amend the laws describing the duties of truancy officers, so they can enforce the compulsory attendance law up to age 18.
fund pilot programs in Nashua and Manchester in preparation for the increase in age of compulsory attendance and implementation of alternative learning plans (amendment recommended by Senate Finance Committee).

Bill Status

01/04/06 Introduced to Senate and referred to Senate Education Committee
- Text of bill as introduced to Senate
- Report from Chris Hamilton
01/24/06 Senate Education Committee Hearing 9:00 RM103, SH == RECESSED
- Report from Chris Hamilton
02/07/06 Senate Education Committee Hearing 9:30 Rm 103, SH == RECONVENED
- Report from Chris Hamilton
02/14/06 Senate Education Committee executive session
- Report from Amy Gall/Chris Hamilton
03/08/06 Senate Education Committee Report 3-2 Ought to Pass with Amendment
- Senate Education Committee Report and amendment
- Report from Chris Hamilton
03/16/06 Senate accepts SEC Report of Ought to Pass with Amendment on a voice vote
- Audio file of Senate debate (05:54 - 25:27)
- Text of bill as amended by Senate
03/20/06 Senate Finance Committee Report 6-2 Ought to Pass with Amendment
- Senate Finance Committee Report and amendment
- Report from Diane Lachance and Chris Hamilton
03/22/06 Senate accepts SFC Report of Ought to Pass with Amendment 17-7
- Text of bill as amended by Senate
- Audio file of Senate debate (1:43:00 - 2:27:12)
- Transcript of Senate debate
03/28/06 Introduced to House and referred to House Education Committee
04/04/06 House Education Committee Hearing 10:00 Room 207, LOB
- Audio file of HEC hearing, part 1
- Audio file of HEC hearing, part 2
04/05/06 House Education Committee Executive Session
- House Education Committee Reports
- Audio file of HEC Executive Session
04/12/06 House rejects HEC Report of Ought to Pass 134-129
04/12/06 House sends bill to HEC for Interim Study 309-44
09/26/06 House Education Committee Work Session
- Report from Chris Hamilton
10/17/06 House Education Committee Executive Session

Discussion

11/07/05 Governor Lynch Proposes Legislation To Prevent High School Dropouts - Press release from Governor's office
11/11/05 Against the Grain , talk radio, NH Representative Dan Itse is a guest, talking about SB268 (26:40)
11/15/05 Department of Education Releases School Aid and State Tax Figures for the 06-07 School Year - DOE Press Release
11/20/06 Raising the dropout age won't solve the problem , letter to the editor, Nashua Telegraph, by William Hodge
01/20/06 HSLDA E-lert - Calls Needed to Defeat Expansion of State Control Over Homeschoolers
01/24/06 Gov. Lynch Urges Senate Education Committee to Support Bill to Lower Dropout Rate
02/01/06 Dropout bill would add burdens, take rights , by Mileva Loo, published in the Concord Monitor
02/03/06 Dropout bill would add burdens, take rights , by Mileva Loo, unedited version
02/15/06 2005 NH Youth Risk Behavior Survey Results Released - DOE Press Release
02/16/06 Lynch's plan to cut school dropout rate draws fire over cost - Milford Cabinet, no online source available
02/17/06 Calls Needed: Stop Rise in Compulsory Attendance Age - HSLDA Alert
02/21/06 Reminder of constitutional right to homeschool - excerpted from a post by Chris Hamilton
March 2006 HB 4738, "An Act Relative to Public School Attendance Requirements" - March 2006 update , from AHEM (Advocates for Home Education in Massachusetts)
03/05/06 CHENH Position Paper
03/06/06 Calls Needed to Stop Compulsory Attendance Age Increase - HSLDA E-lert
03/08/06 Gov. Lynch's plan isn't fair to all students - letter to the editor, Nashua Telegraph, by Doris Hohensee
03/16/06 Gov. Lynch Applauds Senate for Passing Legislation Aimed at Increasing NH's Graduation Rate - Press release from Governor's office
03/16/06 Senate supports bill to raise dropout age to 18 - Boston Globe
03/21/06 Petition to Senators, signed by many homeschoolers
03/22/06 Gov. Lynch Applauds Senate for Passing Legislation Aimed at Increasing NH's Graduation Rate - Press release from Governor's office
03/22/06 Raising the dropout age won't cut the dropout rate , guest column, Manchester Union Leader, by David Wheeler
03/30/06 It Won't Work and Costs Too Much - CHENH E-lert
03/31/06 Compulsory Attendance vs. Parental Rights, Freedoms and Responsibilities , by Diane Lachance
03/31/06 New Hampshire Pushes for Additional Tobacco Tax
Gatsas and Clegg, both Republicans, say the state could use the $30 million to support alternative education programs, reported the newspaper [Boston Globe].
03/31/06 Update on AG's SB268 funding question , post by Diane Lachance
04/02/06 Is SB 268 a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing? - CHENH E-lert
04/04/06 Mary Faiella's testimony before the House Education Committee
- History of compulsory attendance laws in NH
- Connecticut Mandatory School Attendance Age
- The Annie E Casey Foundation figures for Connecticut

Discussion on amending bill to minimize impact on homeschoolers

01/24/06 HSLDA E-lert- No Homeschool Exemption in Senate Bill 268
02/07/06 Chris Hamilton's written testimony about how SB268 affects homeschoolers
02/21/06 Discussion with Senator Bragdon about an amendment - excerpted from a post by Diane Lachance
03/14/06 HEAC meeting, Mary Heath, Deputy Commissioner of Education in attendance - excerpt from Jodie Lucci's notes
03/23/06 Meeting with Mary Heath, Christin Bergeron and 5 homeschoolers
03/23/06 Letter from Chris Hamilton to Mary Heath
03/29/06 E-mail from Chris Hamilton to Mary Heath
- Reply from Mary Heath
03/29/06 E-mail from Chris Hamilton to SB268 sponsors
- Reply from Senator Hassan
  - Reply from Chris Hamilton
04/04/06 Chris Hamilton's testimony before the House Education Committee
- Oral remarks
04/07/06 Conversation with Representative L'Heureux

Governor's Education Summit

02/28/06 250 Educators, Parents, Students, Business and Community Leaders Invited to March 13th Summit at NHTI in Concord - Press release from Governor's office
03/10/06 Governor Lynch's Summit on Increasing NH's High School Graduation Rate To be Held Monday in Concord - Press release from Governor's office
03/14/06 Report by Chris Hamilton
03/14/06 Lynch courts supporters in effort to cut dropout rate - article in Manchester Union Leader
Summary of working groups
Handouts from the Conference
- Keeping Kids in School: The Power of CTE - Association for Career and Technical Development
- This Month: All About Dropouts - Trendlines NH, February 2006
- Dropout Prevention: The 15 Effective Strategies Explained - National Dropout Prevention Center at Clemson University
- New Report Illuminates America's "Silent" Dropout Epidemic - Bill and Linda Gates Foundation press release
- Survey of Out-of-School Youth: Four Years Later - NH DOE, Workforce Opportunity Council/Youth Council, Dropout Prevention and Recovery Oversight Council
- There were also handouts summarizing expenditures of existing programs

Existing NH Dropout Prevention and Recovery Programs

Drop Out Prevention and Recovery Oversight Council
- October 2005 NH Department of Education Receives Dropout Prevention Grant Award
- November 2005 Request for Proposals
DOE Division of Adult Learning and Rehabilitation
GED Testing Program (administered by DOE)

Research

RSA 193:1 Duty of Parent; Compulsory Attendance by Pupil
RSA 193-A Home Education
193:16 Bylaws as to Nonattendance
189:36 Duties (of Truant Officers)
ED 306 - Minimum Standards for Public School Approval
State Board of Education - Initiatives and Priorities
Census 2000 Demographic Profile Highlights for NH - U. S. Census Bureau
2004 American Community Survey Data Profile Highlights - U. S. Census Bureau
Target Population of Adults Without High School Diplomas - 2004 GED Statistical Report
June 2002 One in Four: School Drop-Outs in New Hampshire - NH Center for Public Policy Studies
10/04/02 Efficacy of Increasing the Compulsory School Attendance Age - Cornell University
04/10/03 Senate Bill 55, an act raising the age at which a child may terminate his or her public education , voted ITL by Senate
October 2003 Will The "Age-Wave" Swamp The NH Economy? - TrendLines, October 2003, p. 3
11/01/03 Final Report of legislative committee to study methods to prevent or reduce the high school dropout rate
February 2004 Still 'One in Four': High School Dropouts in NH - NH Center for Public Policy Studies
March 2004 Suicide was the fourth leading cause of death for juveniles older than age 6 - Youth Violence Research Bulletin
September 2004 What is NH? - NH Center for Public Policy Studies
February 2005 One Third of a Nation: Rising Dropout Rates and Declining Opportunities - Educational Testing Services
March 2005 High School Leadership Preliminary Report - NH DOE
03/07/05 Fact Sheet: Making a Difference for America's Youth - White House press release
June 2005 Getting Honest About Grad Rates: How States Play the Numbers and Students Lose , The Education Trust
July 2005 Depression: Teens and Depression - WebMD in collaboration with The Cleveland Clinic
September 2005 Compulsory School Age Requirements - Education Commission of the States
November 2005 Description of Connecticut compulsory attendance law, effective July 2001 - 2-1-1 Online, State of CT, Connecticut United Ways
11/02/05 Weaving a better safety net - Wire NH
11/15/05 State Aid Programs for the 2006-2007 Fiscal Year
December 2005? Comparison of high school completion rates based on compulsory school age - compiled by Advocates of Home Education in Massachusetts (AHEM)
12/02/05 Governors Give Unanimous Support to High School Graduation Rate: Governors Endorse Graduation Counts Compact - National Governors Association
12/15/05 National Assessment of Adult Literacy
- From an AP article: ...even as more people get a formal education, the literacy rate is not rising. Federal officials say this trend is puzzling and worthy of research.
01/12/06 High School Dropout Rate Drops - press release from Education Commissioner Tracy
01/19/06 State Average Cost Per Pupil and Total Expenditures 2004-2005
02/01/06 TrendLines NH - This Month: All About Dropouts
02/08/06 AP-AOL POLL: Parents, teachers have an educational divide
2/15/06 NH Youth Risk Behavior Survey
02/22/06 Lynch Approval at 72% - Granite State Poll
03/02/06 Diplomas and Dropouts - broadcast on WGBH 87.9 FM
03/02/06 The Silent Epidemic - Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
03/28/06 Results of some research by a homeschooler on the history of compulsory attendance in NH
03/30/06 National Center for Injury and Prevention Control
- Youth Violence: Fact Sheet
- Suicide: Fact Sheet
3/31/06 The NH Poll - American Research Group, Inc.
4/1/06 Info on GED's from a homeschooler

NHPR Audio files and transcripts on the dropout issue and SB268

02/07/02 New State Report on Drop-Outs
05/30/02 New Report Puts Dropout Rate at 25%
05/30/02 New Data on School Dropouts Alarms Lawmakers
06/05/02 High School Drop Outs
- One in Four: School Drop-outs in NH (Report by NH Center for Public Policy)
06/17/03 NH Americorps Volunteers May Lose Funding
07/14/03 The Chronicles of Thayer High School
07/15/03 Controversy Returns to Winchester's Thayer High
08/20/03 State School Board Mulls Charter Schools
06/03/04 High School Dropouts (The Exchange)
06/09/04 Special Education Identification
01/18/05 Franklin Charter School Seeks State Money
01/31/05 Monadnock Region Experiments With School Choice
04/11/05 High School Decreases Dropout Rate
11/17/05 Education Commissioner Lyonel Tracy (The Exchange)
11/23/05 Raising the Drop-Out Age
12/02/05 Raising the Drop-Out Age (The Exchange)
01/06/06 Lawmakers Face Number of Education Bills This Session
01/13/06 Some Question Proposed Dropout Bill (NPR)
03/24/06 Governor John Lynch
04/04/06 The Governor's Effort to Raise the State's Compulsory Education Age Lands in the House (NPR)