The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 16 : Education

Chapter 015 : New Hampshire-Vermont Interstate School Compact

• § 780. Applicability of New Hampshire laws—Article X

  A. General School Laws. With respect to the operation and maintenance of any school of the district located in New Hampshire, the provisions of New Hampshire law shall apply except as otherwise provided in this compact and except that the powers and duties of the school board shall be exercised and discharged by the interstate board and the powers and duties of the union superintendent shall be exercised and discharged by the interstate district superintendent.

  B. New Hampshire State Aid. A New Hampshire school district shall be entitled to receive an amount of state aid for operating expenditures as though its share of the interstate district’s expenses were the expenses of the New Hampshire member district, and as though the New Hampshire member district pupils attending the interstate school were attending a New Hampshire cooperative school district’s school. The state aid shall be paid to the New Hampshire member school district to reduce the sums which would otherwise be required to be raised by taxation within the member district.

  C. Continued Existence of the New Hampshire Member School District. A New Hampshire member school district shall continue in existence, and shall have all of the powers and be subject to all of the obligations imposed by law and not herein delegated to the interstate district. If the interstate district incorporates only a part of the schools in the member school district, then the school board of the member school district shall continue in existence and it shall have all of the powers and be subject to all of the obligations imposed by law on it and not herein delegated to the district. However, if all of the schools in the member school district are incorporated into the interstate school district, then the member or members of the interstate board representing the member district shall have all of the powers and be subject to all of the obligations imposed by law on the members of a school board for the member district and not herein delegated to the interstate district. The New Hampshire member school district shall remain liable on its existing indebtedness; and the interstate school district shall not become liable therefor, unless the indebtedness is specifically assumed in accordance with the articles of agreement. Any trust funds or capital reserve funds and any property not taken over by the interstate district shall be retained by the New Hampshire member district and held or disposed of according to law. If all of the schools in a member district are incorporated into an interstate district, then no annual meeting of the member district shall be required unless the members of the interstate board from the member district shall determine that there is occasion for such an annual meeting.

  D. Suit and Service of Process in New Hampshire. The courts of New Hampshire shall have the same jurisdiction over the district as though a New Hampshire member district were a party instead of the interstate district. The service necessary to institute suit in New Hampshire shall be made on the district by leaving a copy of the writ or other proceedings in hand or at the last and usual place of abode of one of the directors who reside in New Hampshire, and by mailing a like copy to the clerk and to one other director by certified mail with return receipt requested.

  E. Employment. Each employee of an interstate district assigned to a school located in New Hampshire shall be considered an employee of a New Hampshire school district for the purpose of the New Hampshire teachers’ retirement system, the New Hampshire state employees’ retirement system, the New Hampshire workers’ compensation law and any other law relating to the regulation of employment or the provision of benefits for employees of New Hampshire school districts except as follows:

  1. A teacher in a New Hampshire member district may elect to remain a member of the New Hampshire teachers’ retirement system, even though assigned to teach in an interstate school in Vermont.

  2. Employees of interstate districts designated as professional or instructional staff members, as defined in article I hereof, may elect to participate in the teachers’ retirement system of either the State of New Hampshire or the State of Vermont but in no case will they participate in both retirement systems simultaneously.

  3. It shall be the duty of the superintendent in an interstate district to: (a) advise teachers and other professional staff employees contracted for the district about the terms of the contract and the policies and procedure of the retirement systems; (b) see that each teacher or professional staff employee selects the retirement system of his or her choice at the time his or her contract is signed; (c) provide the commissioners of education in New Hampshire and in Vermont with the names and other pertinent information regarding each staff member under his or her jurisdiction so that each may be enrolled in the retirement system of his or her preference. (Added 1967, No. 243 (Adj. Sess.); amended 1981, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 1.)