I guess opponents of HB 620 never read the NH Constitution from the get-go? - Granite Grok

I guess opponents of HB 620 never read the NH Constitution from the get-go?

[Art.] 28. [Taxes, by Whom Levied.] No subsidy, charge, tax, impost, or duty, shall be established, fixed, laid, or levied, under any pretext whatsoever, without the consent of the people, or their representatives in the legislature, or authority derived from that body.

And it looks like those in the Legislature have decided that the State Board of Education has violated the Constitution’s mandate too often (else why would it exist?).  Reformatted, emphasis mine:

A bill intended to limit unfunded mandates in education and give school districts greater flexibility has special education advocates worried that major protections for students could be imperiled. As written, House Bill 620 would prohibit the State Board of Education from proposing any rule “that exceeds the minimum requirements of state or federal law.” The bill would affect all education rulemaking, but both the State Board and advocates said the biggest impacts would be in special education.

Hey, it’s all about The Rule of Law – or do these “advocates” don’t care about that?  After all, the Shade of Ian Underwood is ever present (with a pointed stick – heh!).  Not only that, but WHO should be making the Law?  Should it be the Executive Branch’s agencies?  Or should it be, well, Legislators?  Again, we look to the NH Constitution:

[Art.] 2. [Legislature, How Constituted.] The supreme legislative power, within this state, shall be vested in the senate and house of representatives, each of which shall have a negative on the other.

The Senate and House, according to our fundamental Law, are the only entities that are ALLOWED to b making Law.  The Constitution doesn’t mention any capability of agencies to make “Administrative Law” and doesn’t have any verbiage that states that the House or the Senate can just GIVE that power away.  Yes, I know that they have done just that with the formation of JLCAR – which shows how far we’ve strayed from our roots.

And no matter what “progress” an agency has made, it doesn’t have the power to be able to say “look how good we are – leave us the heck alone”:

New Hampshire has some of the highest graduation rates for students with disabilities, and it’s because we’ve spent 30 years clarifying and building upon the federal law – the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act,” said Lisa Beaudoin, of ABLE New Hampshire. “This is a direct threat to major civil rights achievements that we’ve made.”

Are you saying that you should be outside of the because PROGRESS?  Not so much. Just like Ruffio, it seems like you do feel that way.

Rules, which have the force of law, are developed to fill in the blanks after state or federal laws are passed. In New Hampshire, it’s up to the State Board of Education to come up with the details after laws are passed.

And this is where I have a problem with our Legislators – this is the work THEY should be doing, not the Executive Branch.  They, along with the Governor and Executive Council, should be part of the bulwark against Federal Government intrusions.  After all:

Article 1. [Name of Body Politic.] The people inhabiting the territory formerly called the province of New Hampshire, do hereby solemnly and mutually agree with each other, to form themselves into a free, sovereign and independent body-politic, or state, by the name of the State of New Hampshire.

No, stop it with the succession noise – I’m not going there.  But those words do speak to having a strong Federalism in play – where the States need to retake their proper and original roles in these United States (instead of the mere political subdivisions as many Progressives are striving to make happen).

 

“Rules that are meant to clarify statutory language could be considered exceeding minimal requirements under HB 620’s provisions,” Tom Raffio, the state board’s chairman, told House Education Committee members in a letter. “For example, New Hampshire law states that students must be evaluated as part of the process for determining eligibility for special supports, but the law does not provide specific criteria for the evaluation or requirements for who can perform such an evaluation . . . HB 620 would prevent the board from creating such rules and could deny at-risk students access to vital supports.”

Gosh, Ruffio is making my point for me – and exactly: put the burden back onto the Legislature to DO THEIR JOBS instead of sloughing it off to unaccountable, unelected, and generally unassailable bureaucrats.  Overreach seems to be the hallmark of the Board of Ed – why else did the NH House just pass the Croydon bill than to spank it for going overboard in trying to deny its School Board, duly elected, from making the decisions it was making about its students.

And yes, you will have to go back and redo your “rules” to comport with actual Law – you got a problem with that?  Did you never think that you would never be overruled?  Y’all called attention to yourselves in making yourselves be a fiefdom all unto yourselves.  Hmmmmm.

So here is the Board of Education trying to act as its own special form of “educational Legislature” moaning and groaning that REAL legislative law is going to put a crimp into their little enclave? Here is a perfect example of what we’ve been seeing in DC – NH’s own little version of the Deep State as in “how DARE you get into our business”?  If Tom Raffio thinks he should be making law, run for the House or Senate.

The New Hampshire School Boards Association – which has seen its members increasingly struggle to put budgets together as special education costs rise and state aid dwindles – is supporting the bill. The Association adopted a resolution in 2009 that the state should “should fully fund those mandates that exceed federal requirements to the local school districts.” NHSBA Deputy Executive Director Barrett Christina said the Association supported giving students high-quality special education services, but couldn’t support unfunded mandates.

“NHSBA has been putting pressure on the state to pony up for several years . . . but until that happens and the state decides that it’s going to fully fund its promises, this is the position that we find ourselves in,” he said.

And that is the entire point of Article 28 – if there is a unfunded mandate coming from the State, the local District should just tell them to go pound sand. I have a lot of problems with the NHSBA but not in this.  The problem is at the local level – while on my local Budget Committee, both the Selectmen and the School Board thought I was daft for asking how many unfunded mandates that the town and School District were paying for.

And if the NHSBA REALLY believed in what it is saying, it should have been advising their members to stand behind Article 28 – that’s why it is there.  Add to that should be any SB2 Budget Committee in the State should be doing the same thing in roping in their School Boards because I keep seeing the same misuse of power and financial dog and pony / magical mystery tour from reports all over the State, but that is yet another post

HB 620 is scheduled to go before the full House on Wednesday with a 10-8 vote in favor from the House Education Committee. One of its sponsors is House Majority Leader Dick Hinch, a Merrimack Republican.

I hope it passes for a passel of reasons.

(H/T: Concord Monitor)

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