LEGISLATIVE NEWSLETTER

February 20, 2009

LEGISLATORS SHOW SUPPORT FOR LOCAL BOARD AUTHORITY

Thanks to the contacts made by school board members, bills that could have severely impacted school districts were killed or satisfactorily amended. NDSBA will now be able to concentrate on the primary K-12 bills and property tax relief bills.

SB2320 would have mandated boards to collectively bargain with support staff. The bill was defeated in the Senate. The vote was along party lines and NDSBA is grateful to senators who supported school boards’ employer rights.

SB2341 required all districts to offer K-12 education. The Senate defeated this bill 9-38. Obviously, senators believed dissolution and reorganization options should remain a local decision.

The House gave a strong NO vote (26-68) to HB1519. This bill would have required boards to submit all grievances to binding arbitration. Representatives overwhelmingly agreed that local school boards needed authority to set their own grievance policies. NDSBA thanks them for their support.

NDSBA worked closely with senate sponsors of two other bills impacting board authority. The original version of SB2289 prohibited boards from adopting policies that defined corporal punishment more strictly than the law. It also required these policies be “consistently applied” within the district. NDSBA testified that it is critical that administrators and boards have the ability to investigate each incident individually and make recommendations based on circumstances. Sponsors of the bill and members of the Education Committee worked closely with us to draft an amendment that removed “consistently applied” and replaced it with language that would require this board policy to contain “…guidelines detailing how all incidents are to be investigated.” We believe this amendment made SB2289 an acceptable bill.

NDSBA also had serious objections to SB2357 which, in its original version, would have stripped school boards of their authority to discharge teachers. It required boards to hire an Administrative Law Judge who would preside over discharge hearings and make a final determination as to employment status. Again, NDSBA worked with sponsors and committee members to craft an amendment that only requires boards to hire an Administrative Law Judge to preside over the discharge hearing--leaving the final determination of employment status to the local school board. Although this will be an expense to boards, NDSBA Legal Counsel Gary Thune believes having an independent hearing officer will protect boards in any appeal to district court. It will also quell perceptions that the hearing process is unfair.

HB1454 and HB1473 allowed for initiated measures or referral of school budgets to a vote of the people. NDSBA strongly opposed both of these bills by testifying that school boards could not plan or even function under such circumstances. Both bills were defeated in the House on bipartisan vote.

The House passed HB1400 with a strong 78-16 vote. There were a few representatives who objected to pre-K grants, alternatives for graduation, and the overall spending level, but in the end, they were a small minority. The bill will be carefully studied and may see changes in the Senate. For details on the latest version of HB1400 and printouts, go to NDSBA’s home page and click on “Adequacy Study” on the right side of the page.

SB2199 is the Governor’s property tax relief bill. The amended version makes it clear that unlimited levies will no longer be valid and districts that have them will have to go to their voters for a specific number of mills. Districts with voter-approved excess levies will have to go back to the voters within ten years. Ballot measures to grant excess mill levies must state the number of years the levy will be in effect and cannot be for more than 10 years. If voters fail to approve an excess levy on the ballot, the district will be limited to the dollars received the previous year. While NDSBA supports property tax relief and believes, for the most part, thatSB2199 is a good vehicle, districts with voter-approved unlimited or excess levies will not be supportive of these provisions in SB2199. The bill passed the Senate unanimously.

Now we begin the second half of the 61st Legislative Session!

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