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June 2021 Newsletter

Giving voters a voice by empowering elected school district officials to reclaim control over budgets and curriculum.

SDGA members should be aware of two extraordinary conflicts that made news in June, both involving school boards and Critical Race Theory instruction. Many parents are becoming galvanized against CRT instruction in schools. A prudent school board would prepare for this by requiring all curriculum material be placed on its district website so parents can learn for themselves, without burdensome Right to Know requests, what exactly their children are being taught about race, equity and privilege. I heartily urge every member to open these links:

SAU 16 (Exeter, NH) has epic confrontation with parents over Critical Race Theory instruction
https://granitegrok.com/blog/2021/06/adults-take-over-monday-nights-sau16-school-board-meeting

East Kingston (RI) School Board Derides Mom who Submitted Over 200 Information Requests about CRT. Turns Out the Superintendents Association Wants to Change the Laws to Limit Rights Instead of Advising the School District to Open their Curriculum to Parents.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/06/ri-school-superintendents-group-we-all-know-many-of-our-citizens-live-in-a-separate-news-reality-with-fox-newsmax-and-their-ilk/

-- Upcoming SDGA events --

The SDGA board takes a holiday in July. There will be no board meeting, virtual happy hour or newsletter in July.

SDGA Board Retreat

July 30:  SDGA board members will gather in a private home in Sunapee to have a strategic planning session led by Cynthia LeFebvre, who is donating her time to this needed endeavor. Thank you to the board for their participation.

Virtual Happy Hour

August 23: via Zoom 8-9:30 pm
A Zoom invitation will be circulated to the membership a week before the event. Come one, come all and get to know one another outside a meeting!

Webinar: School District Budgeting

September: Our annual budgeting webinar will take place over Zoom in September. Date will be announced in August. Registration is free but required in order to receive a Zoom invitation.  A registration link will be circulated in August.

Don't Violate the Law: Learn the Open Meeting Laws

November 8: Right to Know NH President, David Saad, will return to give us a presentation about the laws around public meetings and non-public sessions. Free via Zoom. Registration is free but required in order to receive a Zoom invitation. A registration link will be circulated in October.

Upcoming Board Meetings

WELCOME to our three new board members! Our May 1 Annual General Meeting elected Eric Pauer as Vice President, Jan Bettencourt as Treasurer, and Lawrence Borland as Curriculum and Assessment Standing Committee Chairman. Thank you, as always, to our outgoing members - Karen Testerman and Susan Morin - for their steadfastness and service to the board and the SDGANH.

***Saturday, August 7, 9am***
This regular board meeting is via Zoom. Open to all members. If you wish to attend, email me for a live Zoom link invitation. SDGAofNH@gmail.com

SDGA Legislative News

SB 147, adopting omnibus legislation relative to student aid, the central registry, transportation of students, and special education costs. This bill includes a provision to allow 5 school districts to associate to create a Special Education Risk Pool. The state will support these efforts by providing actuarial risk parameters. At time of writing, this bill had been passed by both houses and was in Conference Committee.

Freedom Education Accounts are on their way. This bill was appended to the state budget. It permits state education money to follow students to academic programs or institutions of their choice.

For the next legislative session, the SDGA Legislative Affairs Standing Committee has been working on a small number of bills discussed at the May 1 Annual General Meeting. Stay tuned for an announcement once they are filed. Filing deadline this year is September 13.

Items of Interest

In early June, the NH Department of Education conducted a webinar to introduce users to the new capabilities on their iPlatform. Their website tool is built to help you easily locate statistics and do district comparisons. Every elected school district official should be using this resource. It is invaluable in understanding your district's academic performance, and staffing, currently and over time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ecuutozad8

Get Involved in SDGA

We are looking for two volunteers to propose revisions to our by-laws. This would involve 2-3 Zoom meetings and no more than five hours. Work must be completed no later than January 30, 2022. Sounds boring but it won't be!

We are also looking for someone to invigorate our Facebook presence by posting articles of interest and initiating topics of discussion.

Help us with outreach: Please invite us to introduce ourselves to your local school board. Are you involved in groups interested in school-related issues?  Invite us to speak!

Join us:  Dues are $20 annually, which we'll ask you for after we process your application. Fill out an application. You can also consider a Lifetime membership for $200. SDGANH is funded exclusively through membership fees, seminar receipts and fund raising activity. (New members who joined in the last quarter of the previous year have their membership carried forward to the end of the next year.)

Renew your membership:  Renew your yearly membership here. Thank you for your continuing support!

Make a donation: We run on a shoestring, and every little bit helps. http://sdganh.org/donate/

Members are encouraged to join the SDGA facebook group to see events and announcements and to have discussions about them. The SDGA facebook page shows our announcements only.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Warm best,
Donna Green
President, School District Governance Association
SDGAofNH@gmail.com

Copyright © 2021 School District Governance Association of New Hampshire, All rights reserved.

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