Section Ed 321.10 - Standards for Educational Space(a) Educational space shall include, but not be limited to, classrooms, laboratories, gymnasiums, and libraries.(b) School facilities shall provide educational space sufficient to meet the requirements identified in the educational specifications in Ed 321 and the New Hampshire minimum standards for public school approval as specified in Ed 306.(c) Approval of the size of classrooms or instructional spaces shall be determined by the acceptable number of square feet per student established in Ed 321.10 ( g)-(k), multiplied by the total projected number of the class or group or the minimum size specified in Ed 321.10 whichever is larger.(d) The requirements of Ed 321.10 shall be waived by the commissioner of the department or the commissioner's designee upon a written request for a waiver from the requesting school district under Ed 321.28.(e) Every educational space, except gymnasiums and music rooms, shall contain a seat and work surface for each student, teacher, and teacher's aide, appropriate for the normal activity conducted in that space.(f) Every general purpose classroom shall:(1) Contain an erasable surface of at least 32 square feet and a surface suitable for projection purposes; and(2) Be furnished with:a. Desks for students and teachers;c. Other common furniture and equipment.(g) A kindergarten classroom shall provide at least 1,000 square feet, including storage, or 50 square feet per child, whichever is greater.(h) For the elementary and middle schools, a general purpose classroom shall provide a minimum of 900 square feet, including storage, or 36 square feet per child, whichever is greater.(i) For high schools, a general purpose classroom shall contain a minimum of 800 square feet, including storage, or 32 square feet per student, whichever is greater.(j) Science laboratories and combination lab-classrooms shall be sized according to the joint recommendation of the National Association of Science Teachers and the Laboratory Safety Institute at 45 square feet per pupil for separate labs and 60 square feet per pupil for combination lab-classrooms or a minimum of 900 square feet for separate labs and 1200 square feet for combination lab-classrooms. There shall be a maximum of 24 laboratory work stations, at least one of which shall be suitable for students with disabilities and in compliance with RSA 275-C.(k) Library-media centers shall be sized at 4 square feet per student times the design capacity or a minimum of 1800 square feet.(l) When an area in a school building is used as multi-purpose space, standards for educational space shall take precedence over standards for support space. Multi-purpose space includes, but is not limited to, an area used for physical education that becomes the dining area at meal time.(m) Required educational space shall not be reduced or eliminated in order to provide additional support space or space for extracurricular activities.(n) Charter schools shall be exempt from the minimum space sizes in this section.N.H. Admin. Code § Ed 321.10
#8265, eff 1-22-05; ss by #10363, eff 6-15-13
Amended by Volume XL Number 28, Filed July 9, 2020, Proposed by #13054, Effective 6/12/2020, Expires 6/12/2030.