NOT UNLIKE recent state legislative sessions, this past one saw a lot of crazy education proposals that could have become law if not for some level-headed Republicans who had to draw the line and join Democrats. I guess we know who was really looking out for the kids and local property taxpayers -- and it wasn’t Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut.

Thankfully for our public school students, rational thinking trumped thoughtless adherence to extremist conservative ideology, for the most part. Supporters of public education didn’t get any new legislation to improve schools, but we managed to fight off bills that would have been ruinous for our kids. Supporters of public schools and students will accept that as a victory.

^{Legislative Session Ends on a High Note}

_{This was a good 3 weeks for public education, public school students, parents, and teachers in the State of New Hampshire.  As we talked about in the last update, federal courts struck down the Divisive Concepts law 3 weeks ago. That was followed by the unlicensed part time teacher bill failing because elected officials on the Committee of Conference did not reach an agreement acceptable to all members before the deadline. Then this past week, the House voted to defeat the effort to expand the unaccountable, over-budget, unproven school voucher program. The voted of 185-168 was a strong bipartisan victory for all those who care about public education, opportunity and inclusion for all students, and student achievement.} 

AFT-NH Statement on the Defeat of Voucher Expansion

 CONCORD, N.H. - Statement by AFT-New Hampshire President Deb Howes on the defeat of HB 1665, the expansion of the school voucher program:

“Today's defeat by the NH House of HB 1665, which would have expanded the state's school voucher program, is a huge victory for all public-school students and local property taxpayers. Every Granite State student has the constitutional right to a robust public education and the state needs to start shouldering its fair share of funding for public school districts. 

The State has a constitutional obligation to fund the robust public education of 165,000 public school students and it MUST meet that obligation! It needs to stop looking for ways to give away tax money to private educational options through vouchers.”

AFT-NH is proud to award this year's scholarship winners.

The Honey Cascio award recipient for a graduating high school student is awarded to Charles Bradley Jr. He attends Billerica Memorial High School in Billerica MA. His mom is member Stacey Sweklo-Bradley, a teacher in the Nashua Teachers' Union  AFT 1044. 

The winner of the Billy Donovan award for a continuing college student is John T. Duval, who attends Temple University. His dad is member Vincent Duval, a band teacher at Pennichuck Middle School, and part of the Nashua Teachers' Union AFT-1044. 

Please complete the following survey if you worked in a PK-12 public or public charter school in New Hampshire during the 2023-2024 school year. It should take approximately 6-8 minutes to complete:

Click here:  Reaching Higher NH Climate Survey, Spring 2024

 Court Rejects Divisive Concepts Law and Legislative Session Enters Final Weeks

A HUGE VICTORY for public school students and teachers this week as the federal district court ruled in favor of AFT-NH and other plaintiffs in the so-called divisive concepts case. The law that was passed as part of the state budget in 2021 was aimed at preventing teachers from teaching honest history to Granite State students. It was pushed by anti-education politicians and our anti-public education commissioner, Frank Edelblut, a partisan political appointee who is answerable only to the governor.