Rep. Greg Hill: New bill will save school districts on special education costs

To The Daily Sun,

These last two years, New Hampshire House Republicans have been successful in passing several bills with the goals of empowering students and helping school districts to find innovative solutions to perplexing problems. One piece of legislation especially exemplifies that goal. SB 147 would offer one solution to assist school districts with unanticipated catastrophic special education costs.

It was pointed out that a serious budget problem occurs when high-expense children move into a school district after their budget figures have been set by town meeting. By allowing school districts to come together in risk pools, they are able to manage and mitigate risk for these unanticipated special education costs. In the past, school districts had to provide the resources by shifting away assets from other areas in the budget. House Republicans wanted to ensure that school administrators and school boards have tools to cope with the difficult job of "robbing Peter to pay Paul." Risk pools can help our local administrators and school districts still make sure that all students receive the proper education that they deserve. To our knowledge, this innovative idea has never been seen in other states but undoubtably will be copied. NH is once again leading the nation in education solutions.

I was proud to serve on the Committee of Conference on SB 147 to ensure that this policy appeared in the final bill that Gov. Chris Sununu signed into law. By allowing our school districts to collaborate in this way, we are ensuring that schools have every tool that they need in order to provide a better environment for special education to occur, while also providing a way for schools to work together and avoid having to use rainy day funds in order to continue to function in dire circumstances.

Rep. Greg Hill

Northfield