State House News

January 17, 2021 ~ Bow, NH

Slowly but surely, the wheels are beginning to turn in the NH Legislature.  The Senate has already held a small number of online committee hearings, in essence testing out the system for remote access public testimony and working out any glitches.  The NH House is moving more slowly, with committees holding online orientation meetings for their members. 

The schedule for these meetings is in the House Calendar which can be found on the NH General Court website at http://gencourt.state.nh.us/house/caljourns/default.aspx).  If you seek to know when specific bills are scheduled for hearings you can check the Calendar which is published weekly or go to the bill search site if you know the bill number (for example, budget bill is always HB1).  The search page is http://gencourt.state.nh.us/bill_Status/.

January 10, 2021

Bow, NH

To say the first full week of 2021 was eventful is a gross understatement. The shocking attempt at a coup in Washington DC will be memorialized by historians but should not surprise anyone following politics the past twenty years.  Commentary is already flowing fast and furious, and there is little need to add to it.  Suffice to say, the attempted coup bears witness to the continued power and stridency of white supremacist thinking and rhetoric and its deep roots in American history and culture.  Sadly, lives were lost, including police officer, Brian Sicknick, who died from injuries incurred in the line of duty.  Unsurprisingly, Governor Sununu has not ordered flags flown at half-staff in honor of Officer Sicknick. One can only suspect our dear governor is still holding his finger in the air, trying to determine the direction of the political winds before he considers acting or taking a stand in regards to the coup and his party leader, President Trump.

January 1, 2021 ~ Bow, NH

Happy New Year!  It is time to wave a not-so-fond farewell to 2020!  One can only hope that 2021 is an improvement upon the year we all just endured.  Educators are exhausted, students are tired, health care workers are burning out, and NH’s COVID infection rates and the number of deaths continues to rise with unprecedented rapidity.  Meanwhile, as the NH Legislature prepares to resume its work in some sort of fashion, the Republican majority and the governor are preparing an unprecedented assault upon public education and upon labor unions.  So gird up, the next few months are going to be busy.  We will try to keep you informed as things develop and we will be asking for your aid and involvement as we work to prevent the gutting of public education and its privatization.  But first, let’s take a look at the context and setting, as the political circus prepares to open for the 2021 session.

Please accept this written statement from the American Federation of Teachers-New Hampshire (AFT-NH) regarding the proposed rules establishing the Learn Everywhere program.  As staunch advocates of public education, AFT-NH is firmly opposed to the creation of the Learn Everywhere program. 

As currently outlined, the Learn Everywhere program removes from local control the decisions regarding standards for credit-bearing activities and courses, thereby reversing longstanding New Hampshire tradition.  As an organization representing educators who work closely with local administrators and school boards, AFT-NH rejects the centralization of authority over graduation standards and supports keeping it at the level closest to students, teachers, and citizens—the local level. 

Open Enrollment.  The House Education Policy and Administration Committee concluded the second day of public hearings on SB 101, Open Enrollment, and again encountered overwhelming opposition to the bill. After two days of testimony, only ten people spoke in favor of the bill. Opposition dominated the hearings. School board members, administrators, teachers, special education advocates, local property taxpayers, and many others expressed serious concerns about the proposed bill and amendment and the havoc which would result in our local schools.

On behalf of our members, the public-school students and communities we serve, AFT–New Hampshire opposes SB 101, even with the amendment discussed on March 25. While the amendment changes how open enrollment would be funded, it does not change the fundamental impact of the bill. Mandatory open enrollment still threatens equal educational opportunity, undermines local public schools, and diverts scarce resources away from the students and communities who rely on them most.

SB 578 is a well-intentioned bill. It reflects a broad agreement that students, especially the youngest learners, need movement, play, and time to reset in order to learn. Educators support those goals and support the well-being of public-school students. However, SB 578 goes beyond encouraging good educational practices we can all agree on. Instead, it imposes new mandates without providing the resources needed to implement them effectively or even responsibly.