SB 378  - AS INTRODUCED

 

 

2024 SESSION

24-3029

02/05

 

SENATE BILL 378

 

AN ACT relative to the performance-based school accountability system task force.

 

SPONSORS: Sen. Ward, Dist 8; Sen. Lang, Dist 2

 

COMMITTEE: Education

 

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ANALYSIS

 

This bill creates a task force to develop and review the performance-based accountability system to review whether schools are providing the opportunity for an adequate education.

 

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

24-3029

02/05

 

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

 

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Four

 

AN ACT relative to the performance-based school accountability system task force.

 

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

 

1  Adequate Public Education; Performance-Based Accountability System.  RSA 193-E:3-c is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:

193-E:3-c  Development, Implementation, and Review of the Performance-Based Accountability System.

I.  There is hereby established a task force to develop and review the performance-based school accountability system (PBAS) that will serve to demonstrate that a school is providing the opportunity for an adequate education as defined in RSA 193-E:2-a.

II.  The commissioner, in consultation with the legislative oversight committee established in RSA 193-C:8-a and governor, shall appoint no fewer than 9 and no more than 15 members to the task force which shall consist of:

(a)  Six or more individuals who hold a current New Hampshire certification of superintendent, assistant superintendent, or curriculum administrator. There shall be at least one representative of each of the 5 regions and one statewide at large representative.

(b)  Two individuals who hold a current New Hampshire certification of principal.

(c)  One current school board member.

(d)  Educational experts, parents, or guardians of a current public school pupil, members of a public interest group concerned with education, other individuals with information or expertise of benefit to the task force's duties.

(e)  Department personnel shall advise, facilitate, and support the task force as needed and directed by the chairperson of the task force.

III.  The task force shall have the following duties:

(a)  Define the performance-based accountability system to be used by schools that will ensure that the opportunity for an adequate education as defined in RSA 193-E:2-a is provided.

(b)  Identify performance criteria and measurements.

(c)  Establish performance goals and the relative weights assigned to those goals.

(d)  Develop a process of continuous review and improvement to the PBAS.

(e) Advise the department on the implementation of PBAS, including developing deadlines and data collection and reporting methodologies.

IV.  The task force shall develop a performance-based scoring system, using only the best available accountability system, which shall be based on data and indicators which are already provided to the department and/or performance measures that schools are already required to provide the department under other state or federal laws. In establishing the performance-based system, the task force may consider one or more of the following data and indicators:

(a)  Performance on state assessments pursuant to RSA 193-C.

(b)  Number and percentage of graduating pupils going on to post-secondary education and military service.

(c) College and career readiness indicators aligned to the New Hampshire consolidated state plan, as required by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, 20 U.S.C. section 6301 et seq. as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act.

(d)  Attendance rates.

(e)  Annual cumulative drop-out rates of high school pupils.

(f)  Four- and five-year graduation and completion rates.

(g)  Expulsion and out-of-school suspension rates.

(h)  Other metrics as determined by the task force.

V.  The task force shall submit its initial report of its findings with recommendations for future legislation for the performance-based accountability system to the board of education and the oversight committee established in RSA 193-C:8-a no later than September 30, 2025.

VI.  The department shall implement the PBAS, and ensure the integrity, accuracy, and validity of the performance methodology as a means of establishing that a school provided the opportunity for an adequate education as defined in RSA 193-E:2-a.  The department shall also advise the legislative oversight committee established in RSA 193-C:8-a on an ongoing basis on the implementation and the need for future legislation.

VII.  The department shall prepare a detailed report documenting the results of each school’s results on the performance-based school accountability, demonstrating the opportunity for an adequate education has been provided through the performance-based methodology. The report shall be submitted annually by July 1 to the task force, board of education and oversight committee established in RSA 193-C:8-a, and to the chairpersons of the house and senate education committees, the speaker of the house of representatives, the senate president, the governor, the house clerk, and the senate clerk.

2  Effective Date.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.