Section 188-E:1-a - Regional Career and Technical Education Agreements (RCTEA)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 schools with the school calendars of CTE programs at the receiving school. 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. RCTEA schools 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 schools 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:5II, XI.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.Added by 2022 , 272: 2, eff. 7/1/2022.