State House News

HUGE VICTORY FOR NH WORKERS!

So-called Right to Work Defeated (again)

Action Needed - Red Alert

What a week! We had two big victories. The union-busting so called Right to Work bill was killed by a bipartisan vote in the full house this week. The bill was indefinitely postponed meaning that no bill that even broaches the subject of so-called right to work can be even considered for the next two years. We are thrilled with the outcome. If you want to see how your legislator voted on this bill, click Roll Call on HB 238.

This and the other big victory this week, HB 283, would not have been possible without you making your voices heard by reaching out through sign-ins, emails to committees and contacting your legislators. Thank you to every one of you who has spoken up.

I am here today to express our staunch opposition to SB 295.

The NH Constitution places a high value on educating the children of the Granite State. In Part 2, Article 83, the NH Constitution guarantees each Granite State child the opportunity for a robust public education through public district schools and places the responsibility for paying for it squarely on the state. I use the word robust because it is clear the term “adequate” used in the constitution does not have the commonplace meaning of just barely enough, but rather an education sufficient to prepare the student for working life, further studies and full civic participation in the community after finishing school. We saw the overwhelming support for robust public education in the hearing to pare back the 

I write to express the overwhelming opposition of my members to HB 283. All of our public school students have the right to a robust, well rounded public education that prepares them for career, the workforce, higher education and full participation in the civic life of their communities. Not only do all students have this constitutional right in New Hampshire, but it is the state’s obligation to fund it. 

This bill would lower the quality of the education many of our students receive by limiting the subjects considered in the state’s funding formula to Math, English/ Language Arts, Science and History. Anything else would be extra and presumably could be provided at local expense. Many of our local school districts are already

We support HB 655 because there are hungry kids in New Hampshire. As of Sept 2024, almost 40% of Granite State children live in households that don’t have enough food, at least some of the time.

And since we know these children are in New Hampshire, we know that many of them are in our public schools. I know because I have seen them. My members see them on any given day. My members often dig into their own pockets to keep a stash of easy snacks in their classrooms for those in need. Why do we do this? Because we know that hungry kids have a harder time paying attention to their schoolwork. Hungry kids often have more off tasks behaviors and disrupt learning for other students. Hungry kids sometimes act out. What they don’t do is learn as well as they could.

I am here today to express our support for SB 206.

AFT-NH supports SB 206 because giving our educators and students distraction free learning time to focus on learning during the school day is just good common sense. 

We support this bill because the current system isn’t working. As cell phones have become a common, and constant companion for teens, preteens, and even some elementary school students, the issues this causes in our classrooms have multiplied. Cell phones have become a distraction from the learning tasks at hand, competing with the teacher for the attention of students. With ready access to social media aps, student cell phone use during the school day can increase student anxiety, add to feelings of stress, decrease in-person communication and inflame incidents of cyberbullying. 

I am here today to express our support for HB 603.

AFT-NH absolutely supports increasing the amount of differentiated aid for students with special education needs. The current amount of $2142 per pupil is nowhere near the average cost districts are paying, which is approximately $29,000 per student. 

School funding has become a contentious issue in many Granite State communities. Much of this is due to the fact that we rely on local property taxpayers to support 70 to 80 percent of the costs of providing our Granite State children with a public education. Local property taxpayers also fund 80 percent of special education costs. Of course, that has repeatedly been found unconstitutional because it is a State duty to fund the robust opportunity for public education that is the right of every Granite State child, but local districts, and local taxpayers do not have the option of downshifting the responsibility onto someone else. 

I am here today to testify in opposition to HB 735.

This bill is a solution in search of a problem. In the Granite State our public sector unions represent the teachers and paraeducators who teach our children, the firefighters who come out in any weather to put out the fire when our house is burning, the police officers who respond when there has been a break in at our homes, the highway department workers who plow, salt or sands the road to make it possible for us to get where we are going, and many others. The point is, these are the people who keep our Granite State communities running. They are friends, neighbors and taxpayers: they live here, and raise families here. They deserve the opportunity to be treated fairly and with respect on the job and way they get that respect is through their unions.

Unions are the only way to level the playing field so that ordinary working people can collectively negotiate a fair bargain with their employer, in this case a town, city, school district or state. And NH voters overwhelmingly support unions and collective bargaining as a way for average working families to get ahead especially in the economy. In fact, a bipartisan RABA Research poll of NH voters completed in the past week found that 90% of Granite State voters believe workers should be able to join a union if they choose and 91% oppose government interference in collective bargaining arrangements. Requiring more frequent automatic recertification votes for already existing unions is government interference in collective bargaining.

I am here today to express our opposition to SB 97.

In an ideal world, parents could ask for assignment of their student to the public school within or outside of their district that best suited their family’s needs and that would be easy request to grant. Also in an ideal world, all public school districts would have sufficient funding from the state so that every school in every district could provide an equally robust public education to all students: one with small class sizes, individualized learning, a rigorous curriculum, academic support and, if needed, behavioral support, all provided by certified, professional and fully trained educators.

We don’t currently have an ideal situation in the Granite State. The State Legislature fails to meet its constitutional duty to Granite State students to fund public schools at a sufficient level. School districts must rely on local property taxpayers for more than 70 percent of their funding so they can meet the learning needs of students. This leads to unequal opportunities between districts. It even leads to unequal opportunities within districts as administrators use grant funding to provide needed supports for student learning and well-being, which sometimes can only be provided in some schools.