Press

CONCORD, N.H.— Today, the New Hampshire State Board of Education pushed forward their final proposal for the first part of the Minimum Standards for Public School Approval, otherwise known as the “306 Rules,” subject to edits made to the document during the meeting.

The next step for the 306 rules is a review by the Joint Legislative Committee on Rules on September 10.   

After the vote, public education leaders released the following statements:

“Public schools are the great equalizer - and the 306 Rules are intended to hold our state to that. Educators fought for a seat at the table in the public school standards revision process to share our experience and expertise. Unfortunately, not all of our concerns have been addressed, especially regarding class sizes and curriculum. As the 306 Rules revision process continues, public education leaders will continue to hold lawmakers accountable and work to ensure New Hampshire maintains strong standards for strong public schools because our students deserve it,” said Megan Tuttle, President of NEA-New Hampshire. 

“It is really problematic that our State Board is attempting to vastly reshape public education through rulemaking in ways they couldn't get lawmakers to do over the past two years,” said Deb Howes, President of AFT-New Hampshire. "If these rules are adopted as passed today, students could face larger class sizes, fewer course offerings and fewer qualified educators to help them learn and thrive. The State Board has already been alerted that this rules proposal conflicts with existing state law in many ways. They should have taken more time and carefully considered the mountain of feedback they have already received from Granite Staters who value robust public schools for all before plowing ahead and voting to approve this proposal.” 

CONCORD, N.H.— Today, Governor Sununu signed HB 1312 into law. AFT-NH President Deb Howes released the following statement:   

“Following the same pattern as the divisive concepts, today Governor Sununu signed HB 1312 into law, a bill that requires 2 weeks’ notice for any discussion anywhere in the curriculum of “sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or gender expression.”  These topics show in a wide variety of academic subjects outside of sex ed, including history, economics, literature, art and without clear boundaries and expectations could lead to teachers accidentally violating this law. 

Further, if the intent of this bill is to silence teachers reading books or teaching a lesson that happens to focus on an LGBTQ person, it is discriminatory and harmful to our students, especially to LGBTQ+ students in our classrooms. Anti-LGBTQ politicians in the House and the Senate and Governor Sununu should be ashamed for pushing this hateful and confusing bill that will unquestionably cause more harm than good for our teachers and students.”
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CONCORD, N.H.— Today, Governor Sununu signed HB1205 into law. AFT-NH President Deb Howes released the following statement: 

“All public-school students have a right to access a strong public-school education which includes the right to access after school activities including sports. By signing HB1205, the governor has denied that right and will cost some of our most vulnerable students the opportunity to play on a team which may be where a student finds the most joy during the day. Our students deserved better.” 

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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.

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.”

“The court agreed that the law unconstitutionally restricted what teachers can teach. This decision should put to rest the issue, and New Hampshire teachers will no longer have to live under a cloud of fear of getting fired for actually teaching accurate, honest education.”

For Immediate Release                                                                                                                       

CONCORD, N.H.—The following is a statement by AFT-New Hampshire President Deb Howes on HB 1298, allowing uncertified teachers with no college education to be part-time public school teachers, and HB 1665, which expands the state’s voucher program by increasing the funding eligibility cap from 350 percent of the federal poverty level to 400 percent. Both bills passed the Senate on Wednesday and head back to the House for a concurrence vote, an agreement to create a “committee of conference” to work out differences or a defeat through refusing to do either.

The heart of our schools are our teachers.

What makes Granite State teachers so special is their commitment to the success of every student. Student needs are at the center of everything teachers do, inside and outside of the classroom.

New Hampshire is in the midst of a mental health crisis; while the causes are complex and varied, we know this crisis is hitting our children the hardest. The teachers at Timberlane Regional High School recognized this issue and took action. Outside of their work hours, and for no extra pay, two teachers organized a Mental Health Awareness Week. Students and parents were invited to attend a series of events together that sought to overcome the stigma that often accompanies mental health issues. These teachers, and all of our teachers, recognize that schools operate best when students are supported by parents and teachers.

I’m here today because the bottom line is simple and the reality is clear. President

Biden defends public education. Donald Trump attacks it. President Biden supports our

educators. Donald Trump supports billionaires.

As President Biden said in his State of the Union address, in order to remain the

strongest economy in the world, we need to have the best education system in the

world. That’s why he’s investing in educators after Donald Trump left them behind.

President Biden invested $170 billion in K-12 schools – the single largest-ever

investment in education funding. Here are some examples of how that helped!

• This investment has allowed us to hire more certified teachers to help students catch up in reading and math. In fact, state test results from last year showed that NH is leading the country in getting student achievement back to where it should be after the disruptions of the COVID pandemic.
• It has allowed negotiated salary increases to retain experienced, certified public school teachers and paraeducators – a very difficult thing to do in this time of educator shortages.
• Pres. Biden’s Infrastructure Law expanded rural broadband – which in a state like NH helps many of our students as well as our staff. It is so much harder for students to do their homework or teachers to do their lesson planning if they have to go to the nearest fast food restaurant to use their wifi. 

CONCORD, N.H.—Statement by AFT-New Hampshire President Deb Howes on SB 341, requiring teachers and other school employees to truthfully and completely answer any question by parents or face termination. The House Education Committee plans to discuss and vote on the bill on Monday, April 22.

“You could call this bill ‘son of parental bill of rights’, which the Legislature rejected in the last session. Teachers should be allowed to simply teach and do their jobs, instead of forcing them to pay attention to what kids wear, say and do and then be tattletales if asked by parents. This is another attempt to intimidate teachers with a scary but vague law that holds career-jeopardizing consequences, not so different from the equally offensive ‘divisive concepts’ law. This is not what most N.H. parents want and doesn’t move the needle at all in terms of improving our schools or student achievement. To be frank, this law will get in the way of teachers being able to focus on their teaching and students being able to feel safe and concentrate on their learning.”