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Senate panel hears renewal, funding request for Math Learning Communities program
Summary
Sponsor Representative Rick Ladd and the community college project director described HB 494, which would clarify administration and funding for Math Learning Communities training and curriculum development; witnesses outlined program history, training for high‑school teachers, and a multi‑year funding path proposed during the House review.
Representative Rick Ladd told the Senate Education Committee that House Bill 494 would place the Math Learning Communities program more clearly under the community college system, and asked the Senate to treat the program as a funding priority.
"This bill is relative to the math learning communities and making appropriation therefore," Ladd said, outlining the program's history: it began as a grant program, was designed to reduce post‑secondary remedial placements, and trained high‑school teachers to deliver integrated, inquiry‑based mathematics that prepares students for algebra‑level coursework and dual enrollment.
Ladd described an appropriation that accompanied the bill at the House level: he said HB 494 was introduced with a $200,000 FY26 request and an amended $250,000 FY27 figure that was later moved into HB 2. He asked the Senate to recognize the program's role in strengthening college and career readiness.
Chris Conmey, project director for the Math Learning Communities program at the Community College System of New Hampshire, described program development, teacher professional development, and curriculum work. She said the program originally ran under grant funding from 2006 to 2017, then diminished when grants ended. Conmey said the renewed program focuses on teacher training, on a new Algebra 2: Functions, Modeling and Quantitative Reasoning curriculum developed with UNH, and on a dual‑enrollment statistics course. She said 12 partner high schools had memorandums of understanding signed and many others had expressed interest.
Conmey described the program's emphasis on pedagogy — moving away from rote memorization toward exploration and discourse — and on providing ongoing teacher support, including monthly Zoom meetings and summer institutes.
Questions from senators touched on program delivery (courses taught in high schools by trained high‑school teachers), the program's focus on college and career readiness, and the timing and scale of funding. Ladd said the community college system would administer and staff the program and provide professional development to participating high‑school teachers.
Ending: The committee closed the HB 494 hearing after sponsor and project director testimony; public testimony did not appear in the record.
