Contact:
Phil Kincade
Granite State New Collaborative
pwkincade@gmail.com
603-988-1069
NH News Organizations Request Release of Education Reform Records
More than two dozen of the state’s leading news organizations requested today that the New Hampshire Department of Education make public all records of the special task force charged with recommending broad revisions to the rules that will govern public education in the state for at least the next decade.
The news organizations contend the education reform task force – created as a result of a sole source contract with the National Center for Competency-Based Learning approved by the governor and Executive Council – is a quasi-governmental body and therefore subject to New Hampshire’s right to know law, RSA 91-A.
Since its inception more than two years ago, the 13-member task force has been conducting business, yet there is no public record of its meetings, votes or minutes, as required by RSA 91-A.
Specifically, the law stipulates that public bodies must conduct meetings open to the public, that “minutes of all such meetings, including nonpublic sessions, shall include the names of members, persons appearing before the public bodies, and a brief description of the subject matter discussed and final decisions”, and that “minutes shall be promptly recorded and open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting,” and “shall be treated as permanent records of any public body, or any subordinate body thereof, without exception.”
This letter requesting public disclosure was made by the Granite State News Collaborative, the New Hampshire Press Association, and the New England First Amendment Coalition.
Background:
In November 2020, as recommended by Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut, the Governor and Executive Council approved a $50,000 sole-source contract with the National Center for Competency-Based Learning “to facilitate a revision of the ED 306 Minimum Standards Administrative Rules.” The NCCBL is a Durham-based company led by former New Hampshire Board of Education Chair Fred Bramante.
In January 2021, the NCCBL created a 13-member self-described “task force” that set out “to enhance and further embed competency-based learning within the Minimum Standards,” according to a June 23, 2022 letter the task force sent to state educational leaders.
The ED 306 Minimum Standards Administrative Rules were established as part of the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (JLCAR) created in 1983 by the legislature to provide legislative oversight of administrative rulemaking by the agencies of the executive branch.
The news organizations contend that because the contract with NCCBL was approved by the Governor and Executive Council and its responsibilities are a derivative of the legislature’s oversight functions affecting public policy, the task force is a quasi-public body and therefore subject to all provisions of the state’s right to know law, RSA 91-A.
The news organizations also cited Bradbury v. Shaw, 116 N.H. 388 (1976), a case heard before the New Hampshire Supreme Court concerning the application of RSA 91-A:1 to a private committee. The court upheld the trial court’s finding that heavy involvement in governmental functions renders a private committee a public body and subject to the right to know law.