§ 188-E:1-a — Regional Career and Technical Education Agreements (RCTEA)

New Hampshire § 188-E:1-a

• Jurisdiction: New Hampshire
• Title XV: EDUCATION
• Ch. 188-E: REGIONAL CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION (CTE)

Text

I. Each regional career and technical education receiving and sending school entity within a New Hampshire career and technical education (CTE) region shall be governed by a regional career and technical education agreement (RCTEA) which will be renewed every 4 years and submitted to the commissioner for review and approval.
II. The department of education shall adopt rules under RSA 541-A concerning the form and procedures for RCTEA.
III. Each RCTEA shall include a calendar conformity agreement to comply with RSA 188-E:5, VII(a) and (b) by aligning the school calendars of sending districts with the school calendars of CTE programs at the receiving district. Agreements shall minimize schedule conflicts to better support CTE students with as many hours as possible to fulfill their program requirements. Agreements should address schedule alignment needs such as: disruptions due to differing start/stop times, unscheduled school closures or events, and daily class start/stop times. Students from sending districts shall have access to CTE programming on a basis consistent with resident district pupils. RCTEA sending and receiving districts are encouraged to align teacher in-service days to allow joint ventures in teacher professional development and other educational initiatives. There may not be more than 10 instructional days following Labor Day through the last student day of the school calendar year on which one or more of the school calendars of the districts within the agreement are not aligned. When CTE regions overlap, or students attend programs in more than one CTE, the provisions of this section shall apply to both regional centers. The commissioner shall not approve a RCTEA that does not comply with this paragraph, however a RCTEA may contain provisions for waiver by the commissioner of dissimilar days for extenuating or emergency purposes. If the commissioner determines that all districts within the RCTEA have plans and are reasonably working towards the implementation of an aligned calendar to ensure compliance with this paragraph, an annual waiver may be approved, but a waiver for this purpose shall not be extended beyond July 1, 2026.
IV. Each RCTEA shall include the provisions to fulfill the recognition of credits in RSA 188-E:5, XIII.
V. Each RCTEA shall include a plan for sending and regional schools to provide tuition and transportation for any student from a sending school who wishes to attend a CTE program, subject to attainment of prerequisites, space availability within the program, and appropriate qualifications under RSA 188-E:2, VIII(b) and RSA 188-E:8, and report to the commissioner any constraints in funding for tuition and transportation that need to be addressed to provide this opportunity. Sending districts shall be responsible for ensuring students schedules allow for full access to CTE programs offered at the regional CTE center, including travel time on buses.
VI. Each RCTEA shall develop a CTE access program ("program") by January 1, 2026, to allow students from sending districts to enroll either part-time or full time in non-CTE courses at the receiving district.
(a) Students eligible to participate in a receiving district's program shall have been accepted and enrolled in one or more CTE classes at the receiving school.
(b) Students seeking participation in the program shall be eligible for and have access to both sending and receiving RCTEA apportionment seats on the same basis as any other sending or receiving district student.
(c) Sending district students taking fewer than 3 non-CTE classes shall be considered part-time and shall be designated part-time program students.
(d) Students taking 3 or more non-CTE classes shall be considered full-time and shall be designated full time program students.
(e) Tuition for part-time program students and full-time program students shall be as follows:
(1) For part-time program students, sending districts shall pay to receiving districts an amount equal to not less than 80 percent of the sending district's average cost per pupil as determined by the department of education using the most recent available data as reported by the district to the department, divided by 5 times the number of credits that the part-time program student is enrolled in.
(2) For full-time program students, sending districts shall pay to receiving districts an amount equal to not less than 80 percent of the sending district's average cost per pupil as determined by the department of education using the most recent available data as reported by the district to the department.
(3) Part-time and full-time program districts shall have access to non-CTE courses at the receiving district on the same basis as receiving school students.
(f) Sending districts of part-time and full-time program students shall provide transportation to and from receiving districts.
(g) All expenses incurred by a receiving district in providing services to a student in need of special education and related services shall be paid by the school district where the child resides.

Legislative History

2022, 272:2, eff. July 1, 2022. 2025, 229:1, 2, eff. July 1, 2025.