LEGISLATIVE NEWSLETTER

April 10, 2009

Education Bills Head to Conference Committees

HB1013 (DPI budget) and HB1400 (K-12 education policy) have passed both chambers and differences will now be ironed out in conference committees.

The Senate Appropriations Committee restored funding removed in the House and made other improvements to K-12 funding. Committee members listened to our concerns and agreed that $63 million of federal stabilization money distributed on the Title I formula could not be used to substitute for state foundation aid dollars that flow through our funding formula. In consultation with NDSBA, NDCEL, DPI, and the Governor’s office, they determined $11 million that would have funded the at-risk factor in the state’s formula could be delayed for two years since that money would have been distributed based on free and reduced lunch numbers anyway. This is an acceptable use of stabilization money.

However, removing the at-risk factor did not reduce the total K-12 state funding by $11 million because the committee used that money to restore over $7 million in cuts made by the House, to add another $1.79 million to the formula, and to increase transportation by another $3 million in hard dollars. NDSBA supports the funding level passed by the Senate.

Senate Appropriations addressed use of stabilization money by placing the following language in HB1013: “Any federal funds appropriated under this section are not part of the agency’s (DPI) 2011-2013 base budget. Any program expenditures made with these funds will not be replaced with state funds after the federal ARRA of 2009 funds are no longer available.” This is the strongest statement to date warning schools not to use federal stabilization dollars for recurring costs.

Transportation money was moved from HB1400 to HB1013. Overall, transportation was increased by $10 million in hard dollars and another $5 million in contingency dollars above 2007-2009. This was a move promoted by many to help defray rising costs of student transportation and to lessen effects of declining enrollment in many rural districts.

The Senate Appropriations Committee also moved deferred maintenance grants from HB1400 to HB1013 and placed the $5 million in supplemental transportation grants ahead of deferred maintenance on the “contingency” list.

The Committee made very few changes to HB1400 in addition to the ones affecting HB1013. Other amendments did the following:

Added language concerning waivers of ending-fund balance deducts. This language will be expanded to address federal stabilization money during conference committee work.
Changed effective date of additional counselor requirements to July 2010.
Added a non-voting representative from non-public schools to the ND Commission on Education Improvement.

The committee did not restore Pre-K funding to HB1400 and an amendment to bring it back was also defeated on the Senate floor. They also did not fund the additional professional development day added by Senate Education.

There are significant differences between the House and Senate versions of both these bills. NDSBA strongly supports the Senates efforts to fully fund the formula. The conference committees on HB1013 and HB1400 will be meeting over the next weeks and we will keep you informed of progress.

Please ask your legislators (particularly representatives) to support K-12 funding levels in the Senate version of HB1013. We need strong voices on this issue!!

Property Tax Bill Amended

SB2199—the Governor’s property tax relief bill—was amended in House Finance and Tax to require all districts with voter-approved unlimited or excess levies to hold an election on a specified number of mills by December 2012. NDSBA and NDCEL asked the committee to allow districts with voter approved excess and unlimited levies ten years to return to the voters. We are extremely disappointed with the committee’s decision to set them both at only three years! These are districts whose voters have already voted on the levy limits and whose patrons can bring the levies to a vote of the people any time they choose. Having the legislature require the districts to refer their own levies without proper time to plan for potential losses is not acceptable. We will be working with the conference committee to amend the deadlines.

Two weeks after this bill was voted out of committee, they brought it back for further amending. Fearing that income tax relief (less popular among legislators than property tax relief) might not pass, the committee amended corporate and personal income tax relief into SB2199. We believe this will confuse the discussion and debate on the bill.

There is a Minority Committee Report on SB2199 that does not contain the income tax language and allows unlimited and excess levy districts ten years to hold another election on their levies along with other differences to the Majority Report.

The full House has not voted on SB2199.

Other legislative action the past two weeks

Last week the Senate Education Committee held a hearing on HB1171 which eliminated qualifications for teachers in and monitoring of home schools. The committee amended the bill to require home school teachers to have a high school diploma or GED. They would still be allowed to teach without a diploma or GED but would have to be monitored for two years. These amendments only slightly improved the bill. NDSBA continued to oppose HB1171 but it was passed 27-20. If this becomes law, North Dakota will have a compulsory attendance law that basically says all children must attend a school that meets approval standards unless their parents don’t want them to. The House has concurred so there will be no conference committee—the bill goes to the Governor for his signature.

HB1398 would have required a 60% vote for any public building projects funded through a Building Authority or other indirect funding method. NDSBA opposed this bill. It was unexpectedly moved to the top of the Senate calendar last Thursday and defeated 20-27. This was an example of superintendents and board members educating their legislators on the issue. Thanks to all involved!

HB1435 has passed both chambers. It mandates all students read the U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights as part of their required U.S. Government or Problems of Democracy course.

HB1276 provided $1,000,000 for after school program grants. Senate Appropriations gave it a DO NOT PASS because stabilization money can be used for after-school programs if districts include them in their application. The bill failed on the Senate floor (23-23).

HB1360 would align the rights of REA employees with those of school districts. Unfortunately, Senate Education amended this bill to an interim study. We have been working closely with Committee Chairs Freborg and Kelsch to save the original intent of the bill in conference committee.

HB1378 has passed both chambers and changes the school enrollment birthday deadline from September 1 to August 1 beginning July 1, 2010. Districts will have to adjust their projected kindergarten enrollment based on this new birthday deadline.

HB1347 severely restricts school boards ability to publicly take a position on ballot measures. NDSBA strongly opposed this bill. It was overreaching and unclear. Senate Judiciary amended this bill into an interim study. Short of killing the bill, a study would be our next choice. The House did not concur with Senate amendments so HB1347 will go to conference committee.

For those of you following the plethora of proposed constitutional amendments, here is an update on few:

HCR3058 would have placed a constitutional amendment on the ballot that allows more flexibility in spending dollars in the Foundation Aid Stabilization Fund. The Finance and Tax Committee gave the resolution a DO NOT PASS recommendation. Their rationale was that the ballot measure would be too complicated for voters to understand.

HCR3054 and SCR4030 are constitutional amendments that set up an Oil/Gas Trust Fund. In their original versions HCR3054 put money in the trust on a graduated scale and SCR4030 dedicated the first 25% of the total revenue. An interesting thing happened! The Senate amended HCR3054 to 25% of the total revenue and then the House amended SCR4030 to a graduated scale. Upon passage, both bills will end up in conference committee and obviously only one can survive. This is the point in the Session when these posturing maneuvers between the chambers are frequent.

Go to bill tracking for up-to-date status of bills. Be sure you are reading the most recent version of a bill. If you are comparing versions of bills in conference committee, compare the last version passed by each chamber.

Very soon it will be too late to impact the outcome of legislation. Please continue conversations with your legislators regarding potential impacts of pending bills as we move into the final lap of this Session.

Post Legislative Meetings (tentative schedule)

*May 6	6:30 p.m.	Grand Forks Public Schools (TBA)
*May 7	6:30 p.m.	Fargo Public Schools District Office Board Room 415 N 4th Street
May 13	6:30 p.m.	Minot Public Schools District Office Conference Room 215 2nd St SE
May 14	6:30 p.m.	Bismarck Public Schools Hughes Educational Center Board Room 806 N Washington St.

*These dates are “tentative” depending on the conclusion date of the 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