AFT-NH Legislative Bulletin (2024-01) Action Needed

2024 Legislative Session Opening Week

Action Needed

The legislative session opened this week, and we are already seeing a continuation of the divisive culture war attacks on students and teachers rather than real solutions that will help our kids learn and grow and our communities thrive. And Right to Work is back – again.

We should be focusing on making sure that every student in every public school feels safe, included, welcome and is connected to the school community. We should make sure the schools have enough certified teachers to keep class sizes small so students can get individual attention, have enough well trained paraeducators to provide academic and behavioral support, as well as having guidance counselors and school nurses to meet student needs. We should be looking at ensuring schools can engage student interests and meet their learning needs through hands on and experiential learning. And to do all that we need the New Hampshire Legislature to finally live up to its constitutional obligation to all Granite Staters to provide an equally robust opportunity for a public education for every student in the state, no matter whether they live in a town with a high property tax base or a town with a low property tax base.

That is what the New Hampshire Legislature should be focusing on. Nearly half of the NH House members are pro public education legislators who understand these priorities and vote consistently in the best interest of our students, public schools, and universities. The NH Senate is a more difficult path with only 10 consistent pro public education votes. This is why the bills proposed and the resulting final legislation is sometimes so at odds with what Granite Staters actually want.

This week we saw attacks on the human rights of transgendered students, attempts to turn teachers and school staff into spies on students’ activities and conversations at school in case parents want to be informed, and attempts to expand the unaccountable, overbudget school voucher program. And next week, we have a bill accusing teachers of indoctrinating students in public schools.

 This session there are a record number of bills filed. It has been a very busy beginning and will be a fast-paced next few weeks.  The House Education Committee has almost 140 bills alone to consider.

The House was also in session finishing up their bills from last year. That included anti-education Republicans failing to protect granite state kids by refusing to require background checks when a state funded voucher is used for a child’s education. Now a student may attend a school or a co-op using state funds, and the parents cannot be sure that they are being taught by a safe adult.

The Senate Education Committee this week held hearings on three bills that would directly affect our educators and our neighborhood public schools. They heard two bills that would drastically expand the voucher program.

• SB 442-FN would expand the voucher program by allowing any student who is denied a transfer to another school or district a voucher regardless of family income. This is simply a backdoor universal voucher because it contains no requirement that the family show that the public school was somehow failing to meet the student’s educational needs. Please read AFT-NH President Deb Howes’ testimony here.
• SB 522-FN-A would create a school voucher program for Pre-K ages 2 ½ through age 5 for low-income families. It would stop an existing program that already provides support for high-quality childcare to low-income families through the Department of Health and Human Services and replace it with a new program through the NH Department of Education. NH does not offer universal PreK to public school families. This bill would take away the stable high-quality childcare already established through the DHHS program presumably so it can expand school vouchers. Please read AFT-NH President Deb Howes’ testimony here.
• SB 341 would insert a vague and unworkable standard that a teacher must respond to any parent’s request “completely and honestly” in writing when asked a question without defining what that means. How many things are you going to have to keep track of because a parent might want to ask you about it? How will you find time to do this on top of your actual job of teaching or supporting students in your school? This bill is another culture war attack that is trying to cause division rather than focusing on real solutions. Please read AFT-NH President Deb Howes’ testimony here.

Looking Ahead   Unfortunately, next week does not get much better. On Monday at 2:30 p.m., the House Education Committee is hearing HB 1206 , the “Education not Indoctrination” bill. This is yet another bill brought forth by anti-education and anti-educator politicians who want nothing more than to demonize our hardworking educators in an effort to systematically destroy our public schools. It prohibits teaching any unproven theory as a fact. It also prohibits advocating for any particular viewpoint or ideology because that might unduly pressure students into adopting the teacher’s theories or viewpoints rather than forming their own. The continued attack on educators is unfounded, and filled without outright lies. We know educators are committed to teaching honest history, challenging students so they learn, while allowing them to make up their own minds and form their own opinions on any given subject.

Let’s Stop Right to Work (again) – Please take action now.

Also, next week, so-called Right to Work (RTW) is back. The right “Right-to-Work” bill (HB 1377-FN) will be heard in the New Hampshire House Labor Committee on January 10^th at 3:00 p.m.

We know that most of our AFT-NH locals are not directly impacted by RTW. Make no mistake that our members and all workers in the state will be impacted by weakening organized labor in NH. We know that in Right to Work states, wages are lower and workplaces are less safe. We are members of the NH AFL-CIO and we proudly stand shoulder to shoulder with our brother and sisters who are letter carriers, linemen, and pipefitters to name a few.

 This is just another attempt by anti-worker politicians who don’t like unions and want to weaken our collective power. Right to Work will always be wrong for NH.

Please take ACTION now.

To sign in to register your position on a bill and/or submit testimony, use this

link: https://gencourt.state.nh.us/house/committees/remotetestimony/default.aspx

       1.     After clicking the link, fill in the content boxes with your first and last name, as well as your town, state, and email  address.

2.     Select the date of the hearing on the calendar (1/10), by clicking on the relevant date.

3.     In the dropbox below "Select the Committee," select House Labor, Industrial and Rehabilitative Services

4.     In the dropbox below "Choose the Bill," select 3:00 PM - HB 1377

5.     Select the appropriate option for the "I am" dropbox (likely "Member of the Public")

6.     Fill in the content box under "I'm Representing" with the business, organization, or group you are representing. If you are representing yourself only, write "myself."

7.     Under the “Indicate Your Position on this Bill,” check the circle that says "I Oppose this Bill"

8.     If you wish to speak during the hearing to present your testimony, you will need to attend in person at the State House, but you may upload your testimony if you cannot attend.

9.     If you wish to submit testimony on the bill, click the “Choose File” button to upload the testimony file from your computer.

10.  Once you have reviewed that the information that you have entered is accurate, click the “Submit” button at the bottom of the webpage.

For breaking news and other legislative information, please be sure to like us on Facebook at AFT New Hampshire or follow us on Twitter @AFTNewHampshire to receive the latest news.  Please share this with friends so they can sign up for this bulletin at http://nh.aft.org/.

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

We will post next week’s schedule of bill we are monitoring at the end of the weekly bulletin. If you want to find out more information about any bill, you can simply enter the bill at the following link:  FIND A BILL.

Upcoming Legislative Hearings