AFT-NH Legislative Bulletin (2023-12)

We scored a major victory this week in keeping our public schools safe and welcoming places for ALL of our students and preventing teachers and school staff from being punished for respecting their students’ privacy. That is the good news. The bad news is that we will have to fight the same fight again next week as a very similar bill crosses over from the NH Senate.

Recap  The full House was in session two days this week up against a major deadline and they had almost 100 bills to get through. These bills included HB 10, the House version of the so-called parental bill of rights, HB 331, a bill that would remove any income cap from the state school voucher program, and HB 538, a bill that would create a school voucher program using your local property tax money.  HB 10 would have required teachers and school staff to disclose any knowledge they had about student’s LGBTQ+ status to parents, if asked, even if the student feared for their physical safety or psychological well-being. The teacher or school staff would face penalties including lawsuits, suspension from work, loss of teaching license, and loss of job. A bipartisan group of representatives stood up for the safety and belonging of ALL our public school students, as well as the job security of our teachers and school staff to stop this bill from passing by a vote of 189 to 195. The bill was then tabled. The two voucher bills were also tabled. Any bill that is laid on the table can be removed but since Thursday was a deadline for the House to act on all bills except the budget, it would take a 2/3^rd vote of the full House to remove the bill from the table and with the legislature almost evenly split that will not happen. These are major victories for all of those involved in our public schools—parents, teachers, and students alike. The defeat of the voucher bills is also a victory for our property taxes since the passage of these bills would have caused a massive spike in property taxes for all of us.

Vigilance Needed   We should all take a moment to celebrate the victory. Sadly, we only have a moment. The House is back at it next week. This time SENATE BILL 272, the Senate version of the so-called parental bill of rights will be heard by the House Education Committee. Make no mistake, this bill contains the same harmful language as the amended house version that puts the teacher in the middle of the relationship between the parent and the student. It requires teachers and school staff to engage in surveillance on students at the behest of parents, specifically for those behaviors that would disclose a student’s LGBTQ+ status. Such targeting is a clear violation of state anti-discrimination laws. It completely erases schools as a safe place for many teens and creates barriers to trust between students and teachers, a critical component to any successful school.  The Senate version of the so-called parental bill of rights does not contain criminal penalties but still does leave schools and teachers open to lawsuits just for doing their job. This threat of lawsuits creates a barrier to the kind of supportive teamwork we know most parents and teachers want to have to help students thrive academically and socially at school. We must defeat SB 272.

The House Education Committee is not the only thing that is happening next week. The budget must be voted on by the House Finance Committee next week. We still have lots of questions about public schools and funding, which formulas they will use and how much they will commit to it. We also have to remain vigilant against the inserting of policy into the budget like we saw two years ago with the voucher program and the divisive concepts bill. The Finance Committee will act this week and the budget will be voted on by the full House the following week.

ACTION NEEDED   

 You can sign in and OPPOSE SB 272 and make sure the House Education Committee knows that all NH students deserve to feel safe and welcome in our public schools.

Here’s the link to submit your opposition:  Remote Sign-In

Step 1: Fill in your personal information.

Step 2: Select March 30^th at 1:00 pm for SB 272.

Step 3: Select House Education Committee

Step 4: Select Bill Number (SB 272)

Step 5: Select a member of the public and that you are representing yourself.

Step 6:  Select OPPOSE

Step 7: Click Submit.

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You can also read written testimony submitted to the legislature at STATE HOUSE NEWS.

Legislative Hearing Schedule (Week of March 27^th)