More Voucher Expansion Bills Up Next
Urgent Action Needed
Good news, bad news. Two big victories and a very narrow defeat in the attempt to keep public money in public schools this week. A bi-partisan group of lawmakers defeated both unlimited school voucher bills this week on strong bi-partisan votes. Your voices helped move lawmakers and made sure that the two universal school voucher bills were defeated. However, school vouchers were still expanded to 500 % of the federal poverty level, which in NH is $156,000 for a family of four when HB1665 was passed 190-189. One more single vote could have changed the outcome – it was that close! Then, even though this bill was supposed to go to House Finance due to the obvious financial impact it would have on the state, and come back to the House floor for a second vote, anti-public education extremist politicians decided there was no need to send it there. Instead, the bill will go directly to the Senate. Be ready to take action when it gets scheduled for a hearing on the Senate side. This one will not only hurt our students and our public schools, it will also raise your local property taxes.
Reaching Higher New Hampshire estimates that HB 1665 will cost about $66 million a year, all while the state continues to underfund our local neighborhood public schools and the continues to short change the 165,000 Granite State public school students.
More voucher bills next week. We cannot sit back as two more voucher bills are on the docket next week. There is a shortened House Session on Thursday but that session will include two more attempts to expand vouchers. We need for you to have your voice heard again.
The two voucher bills up for a House vote next week are summarized below.
HB 1652 is a Local School Voucher bill. This takes a bad idea and just makes it worse. Instead of just covering the state cost of education under the current voucher program, this bill requires payment from the local municipality in the amount of 2x the amount of adequacy aid in addition to the state voucher. Remember, the vouchers apply to students who are not currently in public schools. This bill would cripple municipal budgets and dramatically raise property taxes. OPPOSE
HB 1677 removes the income limit for families within the “geographic area” of a public school with less than 25% proficiency. In addition to draining resources from our schools and students who need them the most, “geographic area” is not defined and could easily be a statewide unlimited voucher system. OPPOSE
Both of these bills once again represent MASSIVE expansion of the current school voucher scheme here in NH. We once again need your voices to tell your Representative to vote against any voucher expansion.
Urgent Action Needed Please click the following link to tell your state representative to vote no on these two voucher bills. Click here to Tell Your Legislator to Vote No to Voucher Expansion.
Subpoena Power to Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut? Next week in the House Judiciary Committee is another bill being heard that would give Frank Edelblut and the DOE subpoena power.
HB 1353 would give subpoena power to Commissioner of Education Frank Edelblut. He has shown nothing but contempt for public school educators, who has used his power to harass educators, and who has repeatedly tried to weaponize the code of conduct is bad and dangerous policy and the House Judiciary should reject any such attempt. Hearing is on February 14th at 9:00am. OPPOSE
Please take action here. Please make sure your opinion is registered with the House Judiciary Committee. It only takes a moment to submit your position. Here’s the link to REGISTER YOUR OPPOSITION. Fill out the form. Select House Judiciary Committee, February 14th, HB 1353, and OPPOSE.
Legislative Action Toolkit
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.
We will post next week’s schedule of bills we are monitoring at the end of the weekly bulletin. If you want to find out more information about any bill, you can simply enter the bill at the following link: FIND A BILL.
We encourage you to take action on other bills. Please note our position is not noted on the current tracker for bills that have already been heard and are now pending executive session action in committee since the period for testimony has passed.
For any of the bills scheduled for a hearing you can register your position on any bill scheduled for a public hearing at the following link: SUBMIT YOUR POSITION ON A BILL.
Upcoming Legislative Hearings
|
Date/Time |
Bill |
Position |
Description |
Sponsors |
Location |
|
Mon 2/12 9:15 AM |
HB 1594 |
Support |
Establishing An Annual Review and Qualification to Determine Eligibility to Participate In The Education Freedom Accounts Program. |
Rep. Mel Myler |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Mon 2/12 9:45 AM |
HB 1287 |
Oppose |
Relative to The Definition Of The Term "evidence-based" Within Public Education. |
Rep. Mike Belcher |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Mon 2/12 10:15 AM |
HB 1453 |
Monitor |
Relative to Degree Granting Authority Of Certain Institutions Of Higher Education. |
Rep. David Luneau |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Mon 2/12 10:45 AM |
HB 1512 |
Support |
Limiting Education Freedom Account Funding to Budgeted Amounts. |
Rep. Mel Myler |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Mon 2/12 11:15 AM |
HB 1108 |
Oppose |
Relative to Establishing A Committee to Study The Role Of Colleges and Universities In Contributing to The Student Loan Crisis. |
Rep. Mike Belcher |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Mon 2/12 1:00 PM |
HB 1288 |
Work Session |
Relative to Establishing Certain Due Process Rights For Students, Student Organizations, and Faculty Members Facing Disciplinary Actions By State Institutions Of Higher Learning. |
Rep. Bob Lynn |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Tue 2/13 9:15 AM |
HB 1517 |
Work Session |
Relative to The Statewide Education Property Tax and Excess Revenue From Games Of Chance. |
Rep. Michael Harrington |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Tue 2/13 9:45 AM |
HB 1298 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to The Definition Of Part-time Teachers. |
Rep. Glenn Cordelli |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Tue 2/13 9:45 AM |
HB 1185 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to Sexual Education Instruction. |
Rep. Karen Reid |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Tue 2/13 9:45 AM |
HB 1356 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to The Use Of Children's Names and Pronouns By Public School Employees. |
Rep. Brian Cole |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Tue 2/13 9:45 AM |
HB 1235 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to High School Students Serving As School Board Members. |
Rep. David Rochefort |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Tue 2/13 9:45 AM |
HB 1695 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to The Release Of Student Personally Identifiable Information. |
Rep. Glenn Cordelli |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Tue 2/13 9:45 AM |
HB 1458 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to Authorizing Parents to Remove Children From The English Language Learner Program. |
Rep. Erica Layon |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Tue 2/13 9:45 AM |
HB 1437 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to The Membership Of The State Board Of Education. |
Rep. Linda Tanner |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Tue 2/13 9:45 AM |
HB 1616 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to Parental Consent For Student Participation In Medicaid to Schools Program. |
Rep. Glenn Cordelli |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Tue 2/13 9:45 AM |
HB 1312 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Requiring Parental Notification Of Student Health or Well-being and Certain Curricula By School Districts. |
Rep. Kristine Perez |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Tue 2/13 9:45 AM |
HB 1109 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to Requiring Student Identification Cards to Include The Helpline For The National Alliance For Eating Disorders. |
Rep. Rosemarie Rung |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Tue 2/13 9:45 AM |
HB 1692 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to Public High School Graduation Requirements. |
Rep. Kevin Verville |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Tue 2/13 9:45 AM |
HB 1473 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to Social-emotional Learning In Public Schools. |
Rep. John Sellers |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Tue 2/13 9:45 AM |
HB 1496 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to The State's Duty to Protect Children In Public Schools. |
Rep. J.R. Hoell |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Tue 2/13 9:45 AM |
HB 1682 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to The Civics Test Graduation Requirement. |
Rep. Michael Moffett |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Tue 2/13 9:45 AM |
HB 1643 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Requiring School Districts to Make Curriculum and Instructional Materials Available On Their Web Pages. |
Rep. Mike Ouellet |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Tue 2/13 10:00 AM |
HB 1247 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to Requiring The Display Of Certain Information Concerning Selective Service Registration At Driver Licensing and School Military Recruiting Locations. |
Rep. Tom Mannion |
LOB 203 (Transportation/H) |
|
Tue 2/13 10:15 AM |
HB 1099 |
Monitoring |
Relative to Partisan School District Elections. |
Rep. Diane Pauer |
LOB 307 (Election Law/H) |
|
Tue 2/13 2:00 PM |
HB 1308 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to Parent Access to Children's Library Records. |
Rep. Arlene Quaratiello |
LOB 206-208 (Children and Family Law/H) |
|
Tue 2/13 3:00 PM |
HB 1147 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to Permissible Campaign Contributions By Business Organizations and Labor Unions. |
Rep. Ellen Read |
LOB 307 (Election Law/H) |
|
Wed 2/14 9:00 AM |
HB 1353 |
Oppose |
Relative to Authorizing The Commissioner Of The Department Of Education to Issue Subpoenas. |
Rep. Bob Lynn |
LOB 206-208 (Judiciary/H) |
|
Wed 2/14 9:30 AM |
HB 1686 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to Requiring Excess Revenues Raised Through The Statewide Education Property Tax to Be Remitted to The Education Trust Fund and Prohibiting The Department Of Revenue Administration From Setting Negative Local and County Tax Rates On Real Property. |
Rep. Marjorie Smith |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Wed 2/14 9:30 AM |
HB 1586 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Establishing A Foundation Opportunity Budget Program For Funding Public Education. |
Rep. David Luneau |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Wed 2/14 9:30 AM |
HB 1656 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to Increasing The Adequacy Grant For Pupils Receiving Special Education Services. |
Rep. Cam Kenney |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Wed 2/14 9:30 AM |
HB 1583 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to The Per Pupil Cost Of An Opportunity For An Adequate Education. |
Rep. Jonah Wheeler |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Wed 2/14 9:30 AM |
HB 1517 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to The Statewide Education Property Tax and Excess Revenue From Games Of Chance. |
Rep. Michael Harrington |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Wed 2/14 9:30 AM |
HB 1288 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to Establishing Certain Due Process Rights For Students, Student Organizations, and Faculty Members Facing Disciplinary Actions By State Institutions Of Higher Learning. |
Rep. Bob Lynn |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Wed 2/14 9:30 AM |
HB 1305 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to Freedom Of Speech and Association At Public Institutions Of Higher Education. |
Rep. Daniel Popovici-Muller |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Wed 2/14 9:45 AM |
HB 1178 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to An Employee's Unused Earned Time. |
Rep. Michael Cahill |
LOB 307 (Labor, Industrial and Rehabilitative Services/H) |
|
Wed 2/14 9:45 AM |
HB 1375 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to Severance Agreements Requiring Employees to Broadly Waive Labor Law Rights. |
Rep. Eric Gallager |
LOB 307 (Labor, Industrial and Rehabilitative Services/H) |
|
Wed 2/14 9:45 AM |
HB 1377 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to Granting Workers Free Choice to Join or Refrain From Joining Labor Unions. |
Rep. Yury Polozov |
LOB 307 (Labor, Industrial and Rehabilitative Services/H) |
|
Thu 2/15 10:00 AM |
HB 1646 |
Support |
Relative to Chartered Public Schools. |
Rep. David Luneau |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Thu 2/15 10:00 AM |
HB 1080 |
Work Session |
Relative to The Legislative Youth Advisory Council. |
Rep. Jodi Nelson |
LOB 104 (Legislative Administration/H) |
|
Thu 2/15 10:00 AM |
HB 1432 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relative to Prohibiting Certain Uses Of Artificial Intelligence and Creating A Private Claim Of Action. |
Rep. Jeffrey Greeson |
LOB 206-208 (Judiciary/H) |
|
Thu 2/15 10:00 AM |
HB 1646 |
Monitor |
Relative to Chartered Public Schools. |
Rep. David Luneau |
LOB Room 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
CANCELLED |
HB 1610 |
Support |
Relative to Standardized Assessment Data For Participants In Education Freedom Accounts. |
Rep. Corinne Cascadden |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Thu 2/15 10:45 AM |
HB 1087 |
Support |
Establishing A Commission to Study Information Literacy and Media Literacy Instruction In Public Schools. |
Rep. David Paige |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Thu 2/15 11:15 AM |
HB 1418 |
Support |
Relative to The Use Of Education Freedom Account Funds to Purchase School Uniforms. |
Rep. Timothy Horrigan |
LOB 205-207 (Education/H) |
|
Tue 2/20 10:30 AM |
CACR 17 |
Hearing has already been held. |
Relating to The Rights Of Parents. Providing That Parents Shall Have A Fundamental Right to Direct The Upbringing, Education, and Care Of Their Minor Children. |
Rep. Glenn Cordelli |
LOB 206-208 (Children and Family Law/H) |