State House News

I am here to express the strenuous opposition of our 3500 members across the Granite State to HB 1704 and urge you to find it Inexpedient to Legislate.

The bill is marketed as “employee choice,” but it would actually create chaos, higher costs, and legal risk for towns, school districts, and the State of New Hampshire. Its text authorizes public employees to bargain individually with public employers, establishes a parallel system to existing collective bargaining, and adds criminal penalties for peaceful advocacy.

We urge you to oppose HB 1816. The bill creates a state intervention framework that mirrors state takeover models tried in other states, approaches that do not improve academic outcomes, destabilize school communities, and undermine local democratic governance.

HB 1816 authorizes the Commissioner of Education, when the State Board declares a “financial emergency,” to develop and oversee a recovery plan, alter district operations, reallocate resources, renegotiate contracts, and oversee governance and administrative structures for up to one year. In practice, this is a state takeover mechanism, and decades of experience show similar state takeovers elsewhere do not solve academic or fiscal problems in public schools.

We urge you to oppose SB 580. At first glance the bill looks like a simple cooperative purchasing proposal, but the text also authorizes the State Board of Education to place schools or SAUs into receivership in certain circumstances. That is a profound change in governance that would have real and negative consequences for students in our public schools.

I am here to express AFT-NH’s strong support for SB 582 modifying the base cost of an adequate education.

For more than 30 years, Granite State citizens have sought to have the State meet its constitutional obligation to fund a robust public education in every school district. While the Legislature has made several attempts, none have proven sufficient, nor enduring.

I am here to express AFT-NH’s strong opposition to HB 1830, which would require firearm safety education in all public schools.

HB 1830 imposes a one-size-fits-all statewide mandate with no opportunity for local community input. Public schools already follow an extensive set of academic requirements under RSA 193‑E:2‑a, which defines the substantive educational content of an adequate education. This bill adds another unfunded, state‑ordered curriculum mandate—and for a non-academic subject—further eroding local control and pulling limited instructional time away from core academics.

I am here to express AFT-NH opposition to HB 1122.

HB 1122 is, plain and simple, a state mandate. It requires every school district to offer—and every high school student to take—a course in hunter education, wildlife management, and firearm responsibility. Public schools already operate under extensive statutory requirements for adequate education, and this bill piles on yet another unfunded, state‑imposed mandate that pulls time and resources away from core academics.

We strongly support SB 463—a bill that would prohibit knowingly carrying a firearm in a safe school zone. As educators and school staff, our members take on two profound responsibilities every day: to help students learn and grow, and to make sure that everyone – children and adults alike – returns home safely at the end of the day. That is the basic promise families expect from their public schools and our members take that responsibility deeply to heart. Allowing firearms in schools undermines that promise and puts both learning and safety unnecessarily at risk.