AFT-NH Legislative Bulletin (2024-15)

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.

School Funding   Lastly, this week the House did pass HB 1583 which increases per pupil funding as well as targeting more public school funding for the cities and towns that need it the most, providing some much-needed relief to overburdened local property taxpayers. HB 1583 starts the process of meeting the state’s constitutional obligation to fund an opportunity for an adequate education as outlined in a series of court decisions. It does not close the whole gap this year but it is a positive step forward.

And the House passed HB 1656 which increases state per pupil funding to public school districts for each student receiving special education services. This bill creates three tiers of funding based on the amount of time during the school day a student requires services and what those services are. It is an attempt to help districts offset the costs of providing many of the needed services to special education students that have until now been carried mostly by local property taxpayers.

School funding brings us to the important work being done next week.  The House and Senate are both considering expansion of the already overbudget, zero-accountability school voucher program. The House is hearing the Senate version, SB 442, which raises the eligibility cap for a school voucher to 400% of the federal poverty level. The Senate is hearing the House version, HB 1665, which raises it to 500%.  We all know that school vouchers don’t require independent fiscal or academic accountability, allow schools and education providers to reject students who don’t fit with their values even as they accept taxpayer money, and often have a negative effect on student achievement as students end up in learning environments with little academic rigor.

It is important to note some important fiscal context for why (in addition to these obvious reasons) these bills would be bad for New Hampshire. The state produces monthly revenue numbers to determine if the taxes being collected match what the state estimated they would be when they prepared the budget. Last month, for the first-time this budget cycle, revenues fell short. This means the state is taking in less money than was expected. Increasing the eligible income level and therefore the number of families who can take vouchers comes with a huge cost. According to analysis done by Reaching Higher New Hampshire, raising the income cap to 400% would cost the state an additional $31 million dollars every year while raising the cap to 500% would cost the state an additional $44 million every year.

In short, while the state is underfunding public education and the 165,000 students who rely on it by more than $500,000 million every year, in the face of a lawsuit that would require them to finally meet their obligations under the NH constitution to finally adequately fund our local neighborhood public schools, the state is looking to expand a voucher program we simply cannot afford.

ACTION NEEDED

Please tell the Senate Education Committee that New Hampshire cannot afford to expand school vouchers and to focus on funding our local neighborhood public schools which is their constitutional duty! Tell them to reject HB 1665.

1. Sign in here:  https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/remotecommittee/senate.aspx
2. Go to April 16th.
3. Go to 9:20 am HB 1665
4. Select you are a Member of the Public and Representing Myself
5. Select OPPOSE.
6. Complete your personal information and submit.

And also, please let the House Education Committee know that New Hampshire cannot afford to expand school vouchers and to focus on funding our local neighborhood public schools which is their constitutional duty! Tell them to reject SB 442.

1. Sign in here: https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/committees/remotetestimony/  
2. Fill in your information.
3. Go to House Education Committee and April 16th.
4. Go to 11:00 am and SB 442
5. Select you are a Member of the Public and Representing Myself
6. Select OPPOSE..

Thank you for taking action.

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Legislative Hearings for the Week of April 15, 2024