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June 5, 2019
On March 13, 2019, the Contoocook Valley School District filed a Complaint in the Cheshire Superior Court regarding the State's obligation to ensure a constitutionally adequate education for New Hampshire children. The Mascenic, Monadnock, and Winchester School Districts joined the Complaint.
The Complaint laid out how, using the State’s own formula and the State’s own data, the State’s base adequacy funding falls far short of constitutionally sufficient funding for the children of the ConVal, Mascenic, Monadnock, and Winchester School Districts and throughout New Hampshire.
On June 5, 2019, the Court issued a comprehensive, 98-page decision.
The Court’s findings were consistent with our assertion that the present levels of funding for public education in the State of New Hampshire are unconstitutional. The Court specifically held the State’s current per pupil funding levels are “unconstitutional as applied to the Petitioning school districts.”
In particular, the Court held that the State was unconstitutionally failing to fully fund transportation costs for all students, unconstitutionally failing to fully fund facilities costs and unconstitutionally failing to fund the costs of teachers at proper teacher student ratios.
Additionally, the Court awarded attorneys’ fees.
The Court also indicated that any formula design that forced communities to raise dollars to subsidize the State’s obligations would be “ripe for adjudication.”
The Court also found that the funding formula was “not only unsupported by the legislative record but [is] clearly or demonstratively inadequate according to the Legislature’s own definition of an adequate education.”
You can read the court's decision in its entirety here.
— The ConVal School Board
[post_title] => State Found To Violate Constitution In Underfunding Education
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HIGH-SPEED INTERNET ACCESS FOR ALL
As part of the April 25, 2019 Selectmen’s Advisory Committee, each Selectperson in attendance shared current and upcoming town projects. The purpose for sharing stemmed from an interest in identifying potential opportunities for collaboration.
The discussion that soon emerged focused on the different towns’ efforts to explore what it would take to bring high-speed Internet access to all, which, simply put, would be both difficult and expensive. As a result, the Committee wondered if approaching the pursuit of high-speed Internet access would be a potential area for cross-town collaboration.
Pursuing high-speed Internet access as a region — rather than as individual towns — may be a more cost-effective way. It may also hold greater appeal for Internet service providers (ISPs) because a regional approach potentially would provide a greater combined customer base for them. The focus also seems appropriate for the Selectmen’s Advisory Committee to explore as it is an issue that would benefit both the individual towns and the school district.
A digital divide currently exists within the region, one that is characterized by a substantive gap separating those who have ready access from those who have restricted access or none at all. The difference in access can contribute to inequities in educational and employment opportunities, as well as options to participate in social and civic affairs.
Ultimately, the Selectmen’s Advisory Committee decided that this topic is worthy of further exploration. As a result, the decision was made to schedule a follow-up meeting to continue and broaden the conversation. Each Selectperson agreed to bring to the follow-up conversation a representative from their individual town who sits on their town’s committee that would be involved in investigating high-speed Internet access (e.g., Planning Committee, Information Communication Committee).
[post_title] => Selectmen’s Advisory Committee Proposes Cross-Town Collaboration
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[post_content] =>
MATH EQUITY AND EXCELLENCE FOR ALL
One of the School Board’s goals for the 2018-19 school year focuses on exploring educational equity within the math department at ConVal High School.
This focus involves analyzing the ways in which ConVal School District, ConVal High School, and the Math Department operate to “ensure that every learner--in whatever learning environment that learner is found--has the greatest opportunity to learn enhanced by the resources and supports necessary to achieve competence, excellence, independence, responsibility, and self-sufficiency for school and for life” (Scott, 2001, p.6).
As a result of the School Board’s commitment to educational equity, recent meetings of the Education Committee included discussions on patterns and trends that surfaced as a result of exploring educational equity within the math department (see meeting minutes for February, March, and April).
At the April 15, 2019 meeting of the Education Committee, discussion led to some initial recommendations for changes to Policy IKF – High School Graduation. Proposed changes include requiring all students to complete Algebra I and increasing the number of required math credits from three to four. These recommendations were sent to the Policy Committee to be reviewed and considered at their upcoming May 7, 2019 meeting. If Policy Committee supports the proposed changes, a revised version of Policy IKF will be brought to the full School Board for approval and adoption.
The Education Committee’s recommendations would increase ConVal
High School’s expectations and requirements for graduation. The recommendations
also align with current thinking by—and recommendations from—experts in the
field of mathematics:
High schools should offer continuous four-year mathematics pathways with all students studying mathematics each year, including two to three years of mathematics in a common, shared pathway focusing on Essential Concepts, to ensure the highest-quality mathematics education for all students.
(National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2018)
The Education Committee of the School Board typically meets on the
third Monday of each month at 5:30 pm in the Boardroom at the SAU 1 Offices.
These meetings are open to the public. Committee meeting agendas and minutes
can be found on the ConVal School Board’s website.
References
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (2018). Catalyzing change in high school mathematics: Initiating critical conversations. Reston, VA: The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Inc.
Scott, B. (2001, March). Coming of age. IDRA Newsletter [On-line]. Retrieved April 17, 2019, from https://www.idra.org/resource-center/coming-of-age/
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April 19, 2019
On the evening of April 17th, the School Board of the Mascenic Regional School District voted unanimously to join ConVal’s lawsuit against the State of New Hampshire.
On the evening of April 17th, the School Board of the Mascenic Regional School District voted unanimously to join ConVal’s lawsuit against the State of New Hampshire.
The Con Val School District welcomes Mascenic's participation, and thanks the Mascenic Board for taking this important step to ensure that every child in New Hampshire has access to a constitutionally adequate education.
That another district has joined this movement is further indication of the importance of this issue. This shows the increasingly difficult positions of NH school districts as they seek to provide equitable education.
We look forward to working with the Mascenic School District in this important action to hold the State accountable for its constitutional obligation.
— The ConVal School Board
Note: Please see also this related article in the New Hampshire Union Leader (April 24, 2019).
[post_title] => Mascenic Joins ConVal Adequacy Lawsuit
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April 10, 2019
On Friday, a week after our preliminary injunction hearing, the judge denied our request for an immediate increase in education funding from the state. Overall, this is a very positive result for ConVal. Although denying an immediate injunction, the case will be completed within the fiscal year. So although April 1 has passed, the issue is not moot, according to Judge Ruoff. The districts “seek funds from the State as fulfillment of its constitutional obligations during the 2019 Fiscal Year,” he wrote, meaning we can still try to claim those funds until June 30. The judge also clearly sees the issue, that no school district can provide an adequate education with the State’s current “adequacy” payment.
Our argument, joined by the
Winchester School District, is that New Hampshire’s school funding levels fall
unconstitutionally short of what it actually takes to educate a child in our
state. Our lawsuit builds on the NH Supreme Court case law going back to the
Claremont I and II of the 1990’s. At
that time, it was established that the state has a duty to provide and fund an
“adequate education” and the funding system in place at that time, was
invalidated.
Again, the most important part of this
step, although denied, was that we got our objection to the inadequacy of the
April 1st adequacy payment onto the record. We were never counting on $20+
million being deposited into our bank account last week. We knew it would not
be that easy.
This judge’s
ruling was good for us, as he ruled that he had the power to grant the relief
we are seeking, that he can do that any time prior to the end of the fiscal
year, and that he intended to rule one way or the other well before then. He
also signaled that he was open to our basic argument. All in all, this was a very
positive result.
We will continue to keep you informed as we move forward in this process.
— The ConVal School Board
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[post_content] => March 28, 2019
By now you have heard that the ConVal School District has filed a lawsuit against the state of New Hampshire. The state’s ever-increasing downshifting to towns and cities, has reached a breaking point. The ‘Claremont Decision’ of 1993 decided that “the State has the exclusive obligation to fund a constitutionally adequate education and that the State may not shift any of the constitutional responsibility to local communities.” For the past 26 years, there has been legislative work on interpreting the meaning and level of funding that constitutes “adequate.”
The numbers show a startling gap: the state provides a base adequacy payment of $3,636.06 per pupil. This amount is based on a formula that does not fund actual transportation costs, does not apply actual teacher/student ratios to classrooms, does not accurately reflect the benefits required by the state, does not include the cost of school nurses, superintendent services or food services—as required by state law, and provides less than 20% of the actual facilities operation and maintenance costs. Using the state’s own data, the cost according to its own formula, is $9,929 per pupil exclusive of transportation. ConVal’s per pupil cost, including transportation, (remember, we are a nine-town school district) is $10,843.60. The actual average per pupil cost across New Hampshire is $18,901.32.
We decided that we could sit or we could act. ConVal chose to take action. The State needs to ensure that not another generation’s education is put at risk by unstable and inequitable funding. The board and administration are committed to transparency and will be providing weekly updates and additional information on three social media platforms: FaceBook at ConVal Takes Action, Instagram at conval_takes_action, and Twitter at ConVal Takes Action. We will be holding information sessions in our nine communities as well, and will publish a list of days, times and locations.
We welcome your feedback, and look forward to talking to you about this step.
— The ConVal School Board
[post_title] => ConVal and the Lawsuit: Not Another Generation
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[post_content] => March 25, 2019
Contoocook Valley School District, in its effort to keep our communities informed, is sharing the following important information:
As many are already aware the Contoocook Valley School District filed a Complaint against the State regarding its continued failure to adequately fund a constitutionally adequate education on March 13, 2019. ConVal has requested the Superior Court order the State to comply with its constitutional mandate this fiscal year and in particular prior to the final adequacy payment of April 1, 2019. Therefore, the District also filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to request that the State be made to pay the shortfall of adequacy in the amount of $16,961, 843.75.
A preliminary injunction is an order from the court, early in the stages of a lawsuit that requires a party to act or not act in a certain way pending a ruling or outcome. There are multiple reasons to request an injunction, in this case we want to be sure that we do not let April 1, 2019 go by without indicating that the State’s adequacy payments have been insufficient and thereby potentially lose our standing to receive what we believe is the correct amount in adequacy.
The State has until March 26, 2019 to respond in writing to our Motion for a Preliminary Injunction and the Cheshire Superior Court has scheduled a hearing for March 29, 2019 at 9 AM in Keene.
— The ConVal School Board
[post_title] => Superior Court Hearing Scheduled For March 29, 2019
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[post_date] => 2019-03-27 10:24:45
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[post_content] => March 24, 2019
The ConVal School District welcomes the Winchester School District’s participation in ConVal's legal action to seek adequate school funding for its students.
We thank the Winchester Board for taking this important step to ensure that every child in New Hampshire has access to a constitutionally adequate education.
That a third district has joined this movement so quickly is further indication of the importance of this issue and underscores the increasingly difficult positions of New Hampshire school districts as they seek to provide equitable education.
We look forward to working with the Winchester School District in this important action to hold the State accountable for its constitutional obligation.
— The ConVal School Board
[post_title] => Winchester School District Joins ConVal District Action
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[post_date] => 2019-03-20 17:34:27
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[post_content] => March 20, 2019
On the evening of March 19th, the School Board of the Monadnock Regional School District voted unanimously to join ConVal’s lawsuit against the State of New Hampshire.
The ConVal School District welcomes Monadnocks' participation and thanks the Board for taking this important step to ensure that every child in New Hampshire has access to a constitutionally adequate education.
That another district has joined this movement so quickly is further indication of the importance of this issue. This shows the increasingly difficult positions of New Hampshire school districts as they seek to provide equitable education.
We look forward to working with the Monadnock School District in this important action to hold the State accountable to its constitutional obligation.
— The ConVal School Board
[post_title] => Monadnock School District Joins ConVal District Action
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[post_date] => 2019-03-15 13:58:44
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[post_content] => Dear Fellow Community Members,
The Contoocook Valley (ConVal) School Board wishes to thank you for your endless support of our students, staff, and programming.
Voter approval of the operating budget ensures a continued excellent and supportive education for the children of our district. Furthermore, passing the teacher's contract for the next two years tells us that you value and appreciate our staff for the incredible work that they do.
We heard very clearly that a change to the funding formula or additional busses is not a direction you want the district to follow as we pursue answers to questions regarding declining enrollment, increasing educational costs, single-start times, and how services and/or funding is allocated to each school.
Future communications with the public and discussions at school board meetings will continue to take place about these topics and challenges.
Thank you again for supporting warrant articles #1 and #2 on this year's ballot.
Sincerely,
ConVal School Board
[post_title] => A Thank You To Voters From The ConVal School Board
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[post_content] =>
June 5, 2019
On March 13, 2019, the Contoocook Valley School District filed a Complaint in the Cheshire Superior Court regarding the State's obligation to ensure a constitutionally adequate education for New Hampshire children. The Mascenic, Monadnock, and Winchester School Districts joined the Complaint.
The Complaint laid out how, using the State’s own formula and the State’s own data, the State’s base adequacy funding falls far short of constitutionally sufficient funding for the children of the ConVal, Mascenic, Monadnock, and Winchester School Districts and throughout New Hampshire.
On June 5, 2019, the Court issued a comprehensive, 98-page decision.
The Court’s findings were consistent with our assertion that the present levels of funding for public education in the State of New Hampshire are unconstitutional. The Court specifically held the State’s current per pupil funding levels are “unconstitutional as applied to the Petitioning school districts.”
In particular, the Court held that the State was unconstitutionally failing to fully fund transportation costs for all students, unconstitutionally failing to fully fund facilities costs and unconstitutionally failing to fund the costs of teachers at proper teacher student ratios.
Additionally, the Court awarded attorneys’ fees.
The Court also indicated that any formula design that forced communities to raise dollars to subsidize the State’s obligations would be “ripe for adjudication.”
The Court also found that the funding formula was “not only unsupported by the legislative record but [is] clearly or demonstratively inadequate according to the Legislature’s own definition of an adequate education.”
You can read the court's decision in its entirety here.
— The ConVal School Board
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June 5, 2019
On March 13, 2019, the Contoocook Valley School District filed a Complaint in the Cheshire Superior Court regarding the State’s obligation to ensure a constitutionally adequate education for New Hampshire children. The Mascenic, Monadnock, and Winchester School Districts joined the Complaint.
The Complaint laid out how, using the State’s own formula and the State’s own data,
Read More: State Found To Violate Constitution In Underfunding Education
HIGH-SPEED INTERNET ACCESS FOR ALL
As part of the April 25, 2019 Selectmen’s Advisory Committee, each Selectperson in attendance shared current and upcoming town projects. The purpose for sharing stemmed from an interest in identifying potential opportunities for collaboration.
The discussion that soon emerged focused on the different towns’ efforts to explore what it would take to bring high-speed Internet access to all,
Read More: Selectmen’s Advisory Committee Proposes Cross-Town Collaboration
MATH EQUITY AND EXCELLENCE FOR ALL
One of the School Board’s goals for the 2018-19 school year focuses on exploring educational equity within the math department at ConVal High School.
This focus involves analyzing the ways in which ConVal School District, ConVal High School, and the Math Department operate to “ensure that every learner–in whatever learning environment that learner is found–has the greatest opportunity to learn enhanced by the resources and supports necessary to achieve competence,
Read More: Changes Proposed To Math Graduation Requirements
April 19, 2019
On the evening of April 17th, the School Board of the Mascenic Regional School District voted unanimously to join ConVal’s lawsuit against the State of New Hampshire.
On the evening of April 17th, the School Board of the Mascenic Regional School District voted unanimously to join ConVal’s lawsuit against the State of New Hampshire.
April 10, 2019
On Friday, a week after our preliminary injunction hearing, the judge denied our request for an immediate increase in education funding from the state. Overall, this is a very positive result for ConVal. Although denying an immediate injunction, the case will be completed within the fiscal year. So although April 1 has passed,
Read More: District Can Claim Funds Until End Of Fiscal Year
March 28, 2019
By now you have heard that the ConVal School District has filed a lawsuit against the state of New Hampshire. The state’s ever-increasing downshifting to towns and cities, has reached a breaking point. The ‘Claremont Decision’ of 1993 decided that “the State has the exclusive obligation to fund a constitutionally adequate education and that the State may not shift any of the constitutional responsibility to local communities.” For the past 26 years,
March 25, 2019
Contoocook Valley School District, in its effort to keep our communities informed, is sharing the following important information:
As many are already aware the Contoocook Valley School District filed a Complaint against the State regarding its continued failure to adequately fund a constitutionally adequate education on March 13,
Read More: Superior Court Hearing Scheduled For March 29, 2019
March 24, 2019
The ConVal School District welcomes the Winchester School District’s participation in ConVal’s legal action to seek adequate school funding for its students.
We thank the Winchester Board for taking this important step to ensure that every child in New Hampshire has access to a constitutionally adequate education.
That a third district has joined this movement so quickly is further indication of the importance of this issue and underscores the increasingly difficult positions of New Hampshire school districts as they seek to provide equitable education.
Read More: Winchester School District Joins ConVal District Action
March 20, 2019
On the evening of March 19th, the School Board of the Monadnock Regional School District voted unanimously to join ConVal’s lawsuit against the State of New Hampshire.
The ConVal School District welcomes Monadnocks’ participation and thanks the Board for taking this important step to ensure that every child in New Hampshire has access to a constitutionally adequate education.
Read More: Monadnock School District Joins ConVal District Action
Dear Fellow Community Members,
The Contoocook Valley (ConVal) School Board wishes to thank you for your endless support of our students, staff, and programming.
Voter approval of the operating budget ensures a continued excellent and supportive education for the children of our district. Furthermore, passing the teacher’s contract for the next two years tells us that you value and appreciate our staff for the incredible work that they do.
Read More: A Thank You To Voters From The ConVal School Board