Panel weighs HB90 to let college faculty teach limited hours in high schools for concurrent enrollment

The House Education Policy Committee heard testimony on HB90, a bill to authorize faculty employed by the University System of New Hampshire or the Community College System of New Hampshire to teach part-time in K–12 settings for concurrent or dual-enrollment courses under specified conditions.

Representative Rick Ladd, sponsor, told the committee the measure aims to expand access to college-level courses in high schools that otherwise lack master’s-level instructors in advanced math, science or other subjects. “This is where that college level person, the adjunct or the professor, associate professors can come down and do this,” Ladd said, framing the bill as a student-access measure and not an effort to displace full-time K–12 staff.

Ladd said the draft limits part-time assignments to 20 hours a week, requires criminal background checks and ties authorization to employment as an adjunct or faculty member of a New Hampshire public higher-education institution. “They're bound by the code of ethics and the code of conduct,” he said, describing added accountability and service expectations.

Department of Education director Steven Apley told the committee DOE had worked on an amendment to clarify that the authorization applies to currently employed adjuncts or faculty and to ensure content alignment and approval by the college or community college. He said the community college system administers concurrent enrollment credit and would need to approve syllabi so classes match collegiate standards. “Before somebody’s gonna get involved with coming down, the community college system's gonna be aware,” Apley said.

Union and teacher advocates, including NEA New Hampshire and the American Federation of Teachers–New Hampshire, opposed the bill as written, saying it lacks protections that ensure instructors new to K–12 can meet students’ diverse needs. NEA representative Brian Hawkins said the proposal as drafted did not build in mentorship, time-limited pathways, or review checkpoints and raised questions about how an unlicensed instructor would be subject to disciplinary or code-of-conduct processes. “This could be very difficult,” Hawkins said of assigning college faculty to public-school classrooms without additional training or supports.

School administrators and proponents emphasized local control, criminal-background checks, and curricular vetting by the college systems; several committee members asked whether the bill might undercut district bargaining agreements or allow districts to use adjuncts to avoid hiring full-time staff. Ladd said district boards retain discretion and that participation would be by invitation from districts that choose the concurrent-enrollment option.

No formal vote was taken. Committee members asked sponsors to tighten the statute's language on scope, clarify the role of college approval, add time-limits or review points and outline required supports (mentoring, PD and evaluation) if the measure moves forward.