The Jaffrey-Rindge School District and other districts are closely watching a set of bills working their way through the legislature that would allow students to enroll in districts outside of where they live.
Superintendent Reuban Duncan said in a report at the School Board on Tuesday, the district is monitoring the progress of two similar bills, one introduced in the state Senate and the other in the state House, HB741 and SB101. Both bills outline rules for allowing students to enroll in any district in the state, rather than the school district where they live.
The House will have an opportunity to vote on HB741 on Thursday, Feb. 5, after already having been through the Senate and amended. If the House passes the amended bill, it will go to Governor Kelly Ayotte’s desk for approval or veto.
HB741 would allow students to attend public schools within the state, eliminating requirements that they live within the district that is currently enrolling pupils. It requires that each district establish an open enrollment policy to allow pupils to transfer among schools within the district, as well as from another district in the state.
The school district may only deny a transfer for students who were expelled by their previous district, for a history of significant disciplinary issues or chronic absenteeism, or if the receiving district does not have available capacity.
There will be no tuition charge for any pupil attending a public school outside of the district where they live. For a transferring student, the pupil’s resident district would pay the receiving district at least 80% of the district’s average cost per pupil. Providing services for children with disabilities remains the responsibility of the resident school district.
“This could be law by the end of the week,” said Duncan.
Outside of the implications for all school districts, Duncan said that if the House bill becomes law, it could nullify an article on the district’s warrant this year, which pertains to open enrollment. The article would allow the district to accept up to 150 non-resident students while restricting students from leaving the district. Duncan said the passage of HB741 would make the article moot.
“We’ve talked about open enrollment for years now,” said Duncan. “The patterns of the legislature have been pointing in this direction. This is not a surprise.”
Several schools have either already passed, or have on their warrants this year, similar articles which would accept students, but not allow students to enroll out of district. Duncan said that is not the intent of the law.
“There’s not a lot of conversations about how this is going to happen, financially,” he said. He noted that students with individual education plans who require additional services would have to be paid for by the resident district, but said schools don’t necessarily know what that will look like yet.
“None of us have budgeted for this world here,” he said.
School Board Chair Lisa Wiley said the only potential recourse the district would have for controlling enrollment from other districts was putting a class size cap.
District schedules public hearings
The School Board also agreed upon scheduled public hearings, one held in Jaffrey and one in Rindge, to provide information and feedback about a proposed budget cap for the district, which is on March’s warrant.
The warrant article proposes the school board budget be capped at $24,944 per pupil, with adjustments for inflation. Based on current enrollment, this would have limited the proposed budget for the upcoming year to roughly $27.1 million.
The law requires that public hearings be held before a budget cap is enacted.
The Jaffrey hearing has been scheduled for Monday, Feb. 16, at 6 p.m., at the Conant High School library, and the Rindge hearing has been scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 19, at 6 p.m., at the Rindge Memorial School cafeteria.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.