AFT-NH Legislative Bulletin (2023-07)

Action Needed

Governor’s Budget   This week the Governor gave his budget address.  It contained some headlines that sounded wonderful, but as always, the details are important. The budget proposal includes more than $200 million in increased spending on education overall and changes the formula for how state education aid is distributed. Not all of that goes to your neighborhood public school, however. It also doubles the amount of money that goes to the voucher program but of course does not strengthen the accountability or oversight of the program. In fact, more than one-quarter of the new spending in Sununu’s budget will go to his expanded voucher program, which serves a few thousand students. The neighborhood public schools that serve 165,000 Granite State students will get only about half of that $200,000. The budget also included increased funding for the University system of New Hampshire, a welcome departure from years of declining state support. We still do not have full details, including the source of the surplus Gov. Sununu is relying on to pay for all of this, since the full text of the budget has not been released.

The budget is now in the House and they will begin their work on it. The House has until April 6^th to pass their version of the budget. The House can change any piece of the budget, including the increase in education funding so it will be important to follow the process closely. The additional money the governor allocated is not enough, but it is an important step and is crucial the funding stays in. We will be asking you to reach out to the House Finance Committee and your Representatives when the appropriate time comes. Please stay tuned.

House Education Committee Action   In addition, this week the House Education Committee met and voted on a series of bills that we have been closely following. As a reminder due to the close margin in the House the committee is evenly split 10-10. Any vote that does not gather bi-partisan support comes out the committee with no recommendation and heads to the full House for a vote. Any vote that has no recommendation starts on the floor with an Ought to Pass motion.

This week we had good and bad in the House Education committee. The good news is they voted to defeat the Public School Choice Bill that would allow a resident of the state of New Hampshire to attend any public school anywhere they wanted without paying taxes in that district. The bill did not talk about how funding would work and did not address the multitude of problems this bill would bring.  The House Education committee thankfully agreed.

Book Banning Bill Moves Forward   In bad news the committee voted to bring the Book Banning Bill to the House floor with no committee recommendation. In New Hampshire parents already have the right to object to material that they do not want their children to see or read. This Book Ban Bill allows a single parent to ban a book from a K-12 school even if other parents don’t want to see that book banned. We also know that book bans generally target authors or topics related to racial diversity or gender identity. Our kids are stronger, and our state is stronger when our kids learn about diversity and honest history. This book is bad for the state. We don’t expect to see this bill come to the full House for a few weeks but will keep you up to date with any actions.

Voucher Expansion Bill Not Schedule for House Action Next Week   Last bit of news this week is that the House is still not bringing voucher expansion to the floor. We urge you to continue to reach out to your legislator and let them know that we should not be expanding this out of control voucher program.

Another Voucher Expansion Bill    Next week we have ANOTHER voucher expansion bill. This bill, HB 331 would allow any student who resides in New Hampshire to qualify for the voucher program. That is using your property tax dollars to pay for whatever tuition, educational vendor, online class or activity no matter how much money the family makes. This bill really should be called – “The Freedom to Give Away State Dollars to Rich People bill.” Or how about “The Freedom to Ruin Our Public Schools bill.” We need our legislature to focus on funding our public schools, which 165,000 Granite State students rely on for their education. Those students deserve a well-rounded, well-funded public education in schools fully staffed by certified teachers with plenty of caring, trained paraeducators available to support student learning. Constantly looking for ways to dig into our pockets to pay for other people’s educational choices is not helping the vast majority of Granite State students learn.

Action Request #1   You can sign in and OPPOSE HB 331 and make sure the House Education Committee knows that New Hampshire supports our public schools and will push back against those who would harm public education.

Here’s the link to submit your opposition:  Remote Sign-In

Step 1: Fill in your personal information.

Step 2: Select February 21^st at 9:00 am for HB 331.

Step 3: Select House Education Committee

Step 4: Select Bill Number (HB 331)

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

Step 6:  Select OPPOSE

Step 7: Click Submit.

Voucher Accountability Needed   On Friday, February 24^th, the House Education Committee will hear HB 451, a bill that prohibits any public or private school, organization or educational vendor from discriminating against students based on race, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or physical or mental disability. The simple point is this, if you are funded with public tax money, which is what a voucher is, you can’t discriminate against students.

Action Request #2   Please contact the House Education Committee and Tell them Protect Our Students and SUPPORT HB 451. No one should use your tax dollars to discriminate.

Here’s the link to submit your support:  Remote Sign-In

Step 1: Fill in your personal information.

Step 2: Select February 24^th at 2:30pm for HB 451.

Step 3: Select House Education Committee

Step 4: Select Bill Number (HB 451)

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

Step 6:  Select SUPPORT

Step 7: Click Submit.

Thank you for participating in the legislative process. Letting the legislators know you have an opinion is vitally important.

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.

Week of February 20^th Legislative Hearing Schedule