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We wanted to provide a quick (and early!) bulletin this week before many of our members who are public school educators and school staff take a well-deserved April break.

This week, the House heard and then immediately voted to defeat SB 442 in committee. SB 442 would have raised the income cap on the school voucher program to 400% of federal poverty, which is about $125,000 a year for a family of 4. The Republicans on the House Education Committee has made it clear that they voted against this bill not because they understand that the already over-budget, unaccountable voucher scheme is bad for New Hampshire students, school and property taxpayers but because they already passed HB1665 which raises the voucher program to 500% of the federal poverty level, which is about $156,000 for a family of 4. They want to give away more of our tax money to families, most of whom are already managing to pay for private school or home schooling without a state funded tax subsidy.

Thank you, Chair Ward and Members of the Senate Education Committee.

My name is Debrah Howes. I am president of the American Federation of Teachers – New Hampshire. I am here to speak on behalf of our 3700 members across the state. Our members include preK through 12 public school educators and support staff, university faculty as well as town employees. We are parents and grandparents of public school students as well as property owners and taxpayers in the Granite State. I am here today to testify in opposition to HB 1665 relative to eligibility for the school voucher program.

The State of New Hampshire has a constitutional duty to all its children to provide the opportunity for a robust public education through its public district schools. It is currently failing to meet this obligation in a way that provides the same robust public education to the students in Claremont, Berlin, and Franklin as it does to the students in Windham, Bedford, and Hanover. Moreover, the taxes raised to fund those schools so students can have everything that makes up a robust public school education: the teachers, the paraeducator support, the books, the school libraries, the counselors, safe buildings, transportation – those taxes must fall equally upon citizens across the state as providing a public education is constitutionally a state responsibility. Numerous court cases have enumerated these principles over the past three decades. It is each Granite State child's right to have access to that quality public education, but the state is still not living up to its obligation!

House Refuses to Debate Expanding Free School Meals

Part-time teacher bills   This week, the House Education Committee voted unanimously to defeat HB 374 which was the Senate’s version of the so-called uncertified part-time teacher bill. This version of the bill allowed anyone to teach in a public school classroom up to 30 hours a week with no guidelines or guardrails.

The House version of this bill, HB1298, was heard in the Senate Education Committee this week. This bill, while better than the Senate version, still contains many of the same problems and would still lead to uncertified, unqualified individuals teaching students in public school classrooms across the state without the skills and preparation they need to do so effectively. It continues to be a bill that would shortchange our students and not lead to better educational outcomes.

House Refuses to Consider Free School Meal Expansion Also, this week, the House refused to even debate HB 1212, a bill that would have increased the number of students who qualified for free meals in our public schools. We know that feeding kids is vital, not just for their health but also for their ability to learn.  New Hampshire students deserve better and in the words of the late Rep. Art Ellison “Feed the damn kids!” While a few commonsense Republicans joined all of the Democrats in voting to move the bill forward, the rest of the razor thin Republican majority in the House voted as a block to table the bill without so much as a discussion, and then adjourned for a corporate sponsored lunch in the House cafeteria. Feeding hungry children so they can learn in school should not be a partisan issue. It is really a shame so many of our lawmakers in Concord have forgotten that.

AFT-NH Testimony on HB 1298  Relative to the Licensing of Parttime Teachers

From Debrah Howes, President AFT-NH

Thank you, Chair Ward and Members of the House Education Committee. Thank you for reading my testimony.

My name is Debrah Howes. I am president of the American Federation of Teachers – New Hampshire.

I am here to speak on behalf of our 3700 members across the state, as well as the students, families, and communities we serve. Our members include preK through 12 public school educators and support staff, university faculty as well as town employees. I am here today to testify in opposition to HB 1298 Relative to the Licensing of Part-time Teachers.

We all want to do what is best for our students in our local neighborhood public schools. We want them to have challenging academics in fully staffed schools, but we also want them to have engaging lessons, carefully designed learning experiences and content communicated in a way that meets their learning needs. Being a content area expert is not the only requirement to be successful as a teacher. Hiring content area experts who are not certified educators to teach students, even if limited to parttime, would put students’ learning needs behind the appearance of filling positions.