State House News

March 19, 2022 ~ Bow, NH We are now through the busiest part of the legislative season. While “crossover” is technically not for another two weeks the majority of the bills that were voted “ought to pass” in the House are now on their way to the Senate. Senate bills are also making their way over to the House. There are still bills that we will need action on in the coming weeks, but we want to take a minute to celebrate some victories. Victories! This week we saw HB1255, “Relative to Teacher’s Loyalty” sent to the trash bin of history where it belongs. HB1671, a bill that started as an extreme attempt by Commissioner Edelblut to destroy public education, transformed into a bill that would strengthen education and was passed by the House. We also saw the House table HB1072 which would have allowed School Board members unfettered access to personnel files, student records, and to our school facilities.  These bills were victories for public education, but predictably it was not all good news this week. MORE

March 12, 2022 ~ Bow, NH We are now into one of the busiest times for the legislative session. “Crossover” is the time when all House bills need to make their way to the Senate and Senate bills need to make their way over to the House. The deadline for this to happen is March 31st and with that date fast approaching the House is scheduled to meet for 3 days next week on the 15th, 16th, and 17th, and the Senate is scheduled to meet on the 17th.  The House alone will have to vote on an astounding 212 bills over 3 days. Due to the looming deadlines, House Education has finished its work on all of its House bills deciding what to do with all 103 bills that came to the committee this year.  MORE

March 5, 2022 ~ Bow, NH March is shaping up to be very busy with scheduled House sessions and committees working to make final recommendations on outstanding bills. The full House will meet this week on Thursday, March 10th. The other tentative dates for the next House sessions are March 15, 16, 17, and 31st. There are no bills from the House Education committee being voted on by the House on March 10th. Action Needed (HB 1393-local school budget cap) However, there is an important bill to be considered by the full House in the near future. This bill has been recommended Ought to Pass by a 10-9 vote in the Municipal and County Government committee. HB 1393 would adversely affect local school districts by allowing local school districts to adopt a budget cap with a formula that is primarily based on average daily attendance of pupils. Such a formula would not take into account actual costs in the school district such as transportation contracts, fuel, or even out-of-district costs for special education. This would leave districts with a budget that could not even meet the basic needs of the district. Action Request   Please contact your legislator by clicking the following link: Defeat HB 1393 MORE

February 27, 2022 ~ Bow, NH We will start with the biggest news from the legislature this week; the next time the New Hampshire House of Representatives meets it will be back in Representatives Hall. Up until now the House had been meeting in other venues due to safety concerns. But now, even though many in the House are older or immunocompromised, the Speaker has decided safety is no longer a top concern. The timing strikes us as more than just a little coincidental. Last week Republicans in the House lost a few close and key votes and won other votes after the Speaker had to break the tie. Now in what appears to be a pretty obvious attempt to keep Democrats home who would still rather not sit within coughing distance (and sometimes closer than that) of other people who won’t be wearing masks and may not be vaccinated. MORE

To the NH House Education Committee Dear Chairman Ladd and Members of the Committee: My name is Debrah Howes. I am the president of the American Federation of Teachers -NH. AFT-NH represents 3,500 teachers, paraeducators and school support staff, public service employees, and higher education staff across New Hampshire. I write to express the overwhelming opposition of my members to HB 1671. The global problems that we arere experiencing in New Hampshire and across the country will be solved by the students within our schools today. We must ensure that every child has a complete, robust, and engaging curriculum that builds their minds, bodies, and characters. All public-school students deserve to learn in their neighborhood public schools the academic content, problem-solving, critical thinking, and teamwork skills that will allow them to succeed in a 21st-century economy as global citizens. To do anything less would be selling the more than 160,000 Granite State students who rely on public schools short. Indeed, it would be selling our future short. MORE

Letter to House Education Committee on HB 1671 As a constituent and taxpayer living 75 years in NH… and as a retired educator with a Master’s degree in Science from UNH and 36 years of teaching experience… I respectfully ask the House Education Committee to defeat HB 1671 and maintain the core academic domains as part of a strong public education MORE

February 19, 2022 ~ Bow, NH Good News on Local Voucher Bill   This week we are going to try something new and start with good news.  HB 607 (local school vouchers) which was put on the table during the last legislative session on January 6th remained there with no attempt by House Republicans to try to advance it. Strong turnout from both Democratic and Republican supporters of public education and local property taxpayers prevented pro-voucher forces from taking action. Since HB 607 would need to go to House Finance next, it will take a 2/3rd majority vote of the House to move it forward. HB 607 would have been a huge blow to taxpayers, our students, teachers, and school staff and we want to say thank you again to all those who stood with our public schools. MORE

I am here to urge passage of HB1683. Last summer, with no fiscal analysis, opportunity for a public hearing or public comment on the financial impact, supporters of school choice at any cost pushed through (as part of the state budget) a costly and unaccountable state voucher program. Now initial numbers are in, and it’s clearly time to repeal this program before more damage is done. At the time these state vouchers were proposed, AFT-New Hampshire and other child advocacy groups warned that this program would be one of the most expansive, unaccountable, and potentially costly voucher proposals in the nation. It was clear even then that the voucher program would drain millions every year from our neighborhood public schools, downshift more costs from the state to local taxpayer and hike our property taxes. MORE

February 12, 2022 ~ Bow, NH Next week the House and Senate will meet in legislative session. The House will meet on Wednesday and Thursday and the Senate on Wednesday.  Last year, parents and community leaders voiced overwhelming opposition to a massive state-level voucher bill. That bill was slipped into the budget anyway, by proponents of outsourcing and privatization. For Round Two, those same politicians came back with House Bill 607, a second, massive new voucher bill funded entirely with local property tax dollars. HB 607 would have devastated funding for neighborhood public schools, bypassed local control to force towns to have votes on local-level vouchers, and inevitably led to property tax hikes. MORE

Howes: “The Legislature should have the courage to stand up for all Granite Staters and  make a major course correction and repeal the so-called divisive concepts law.”  CONCORD, N.H.—Statement by AFT-New Hampshire President Deb Howes urging the House to pass HB 1576, which would repeal the so-called divisive concepts law, and HB 1090, which would repeal that law and specifically allow school employees to teach historical or current experiences of any group protected from discrimination: MORE