AFT-NH Legislative Bulletin, 2022-05

February 12, 2022 ~ Bow, NH

Next week the House and Senate will meet in legislative session. The House will meet on Wednesday and Thursday and the Senate on Wednesday. 

Last year, parents and community leaders voiced overwhelming opposition to a massive state-level voucher bill. That bill was slipped into the budget anyway, by proponents of outsourcing and privatization.

For Round Two, those same politicians came back with House Bill 607, a second, massive new voucher bill funded entirely with local property tax dollars.

HB 607 would have devastated funding for neighborhood public schools, bypassed local control to force towns to have votes on local-level vouchers, and inevitably led to property tax hikes.

Action Request   Thanks to the advocacy of New Hampshire educators and families, we were successful in gaining support from some brave Republican legislators who joined their Democratic colleagues in standing up for what’s right for our kids and our schools, and HB 607 was tabled for the time being. Please join us in thanking them for standing with parents, students and taxpayers.

Please click the following link to have your voice heard on HB 607:

Click here:  Thank you for standing with taxpayers, parents, and students.

However, during the House Session on Wednesday or Thursday, there could be attempts to remove it from the table. For our teachers, students, and property taxpayers we need to make sure the bill does not advance through the House.

In addition to the House Session next week, the education committee will continue its work.  The bills being heard on Tues, Feb. 15^th will focus on reining in or repealing the unaccountable and hugely over-budget state voucher program.  

This program as passed by Republicans in the House and Senate last year has proven to be wildly out of step with original cost estimates. Originally stated to be just a couple hundred thousand dollars in the first year, it already has cost over 8 million with estimates going as high as $16 million next year. That is public money being spent with no accountability as to how it will be spent.

Just as we demand transparency from our tax dollars that go to public schools, we should demand the same from voucher dollars. However, it is clear the committee remains uninterested in accountability with this program and so we stand in strong support of voucher repeal as proposed in HB 1683.

Sign in to support 1683 at Register Your Support. Please follow these easy steps.

Step 1: Fill in your personal information.

Step 2: Select February 15th

Step 3: Select House Education Committee

Step 4: Select Bill Number – HB 1683

Step 5: Select member of the public and you are representing yourself.

Step 6:  Select SUPPORT.

Step 7: Click Submit.

Lastly, the governor will be giving his state of the state address on Thursday to the full House and Senate. We expect the speech to be full of self-congratulatory remarks and remarkably devoid of any details as the governors’ speeches have historically been. While we are sure he will spend a good chunk of time thanking himself for all of his efforts, we expect him to fall short of thanking teachers, school staff, and all public employees for all of the work they have done over these last three years to keep your communities going.

 On behalf of AFT-NH and our allies, we want to thank our teachers who have so selflessly changed their lives to make the lives of their students better. We want to thank our paraeducators and school support staff who made phone calls, delivered meals, packets of schoolwork, and technology so students could stay connected to their schools. We want to thank our police, fire, and public employees who provided needed service to the community no matter what the pandemic threw at them. New Hampshire is always in your debt but especially now.

Please continue to check our website at  http://nh.aft.org/ for updates on how we can protect public education, public services, the NH Retirement System, and advance initiatives as we work to continually improve it.

For breaking news and other legislative information, please be sure to like us on Facebook at AFT New Hampshire or follow us on Twitter @AFTNewHampshire to receive the latest news.  Please share this with friends so they can sign up for this bulletin at http://nh.aft.org/.

You can also read written testimony submitted to the legislature at STATE HOUSE NEWS.

NH Retirement Security Coalition   The NHRSC will be tracking all bills related to the NH Retirement System and continuing advocacy for our members.  You can find the legislation tracker following retirement bills by clicking on the following link  NHRSC UPDATES.  AFT-NH is a member of the NH Retirement Security Coalition (NHRSC).

Legislative Schedule for Week of February 12, 2022

Committee Hearings