Your Action Requested on SB 341
The legislature is entering its final sprint of the regular session of 2024. Much like a lot of schools the legislature has 7 weeks remaining. Once the regular session ends in June, the legislature does not take up any new bills again until Jan 2025. However, AFT-NH is still tracking a number of key priority bills in the 2024 session but at this point it is a lot less fast and furious than it was at the beginning of the year.
This past week there was no action taken on either the school voucher expansion or part time uncertified teacher bill in the Senate, however the House Education Committee dead locked on a 10-10 vote on SB341 which requires teachers to track everything students say, do or wear at school in case a parent asks about it later. Please contact your state representative and ask them to vote Inexpedient to Legislate on SB 341.
SB 341 This week the full House will vote on SB 341. It is extremely important that you reach out to your representatives to let them know that teachers need to focus on teaching and students need to focus on learning while at school. Turning schools into surveillance zones won’t help students learn.
Voucher and part-time teacher bills We will continue to watch to see if action is taken on HB 1665, the school voucher expansion bill that would increase eligibility for taxpayer funding of private educational choices to families earning up to 500% of the poverty level. Public tax dollars belong in public schools where it can make education better for all public school students, not parceled out to individual families. We will also watch for further developments on HB 1298 the part time uncertified teacher bill.
HB 1312, a bill that would expand parental notice requirements from just covering sex education to now include any content that might discuss sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or gender expression. This bill is problematic because it could reach beyond biology or health class and into history, current events and literature. Given what we know about the Commissioner of Education Frank Edelblut’s penchant to pursue complaints against educators, either formally or informally based on exactly this kind of content, this bill is extremely worrisome.
ED 306 Rules Outside of the legislature this week is the last week to leave comments with the State Board of Education on the ED 306 rules, the Minimum Standards for Public Schools. As a reminder, the 306 rules, given preliminary approval in Feb. by the State Board of Education, will restructure our public schools and the way students experience their public education in fundamental ways. Here are a few examples:
- By changing the word “shall” to “may” in reference to academic programs offered at the
- elementary and high school level, the rules reduce the amount and variety of classes public schools must offer (and fund.) Other changes make classes less rigorous. Why? Don’t we want high standards for our students?
- Shifts the role of teacher from one who designs learning activities and engages students in those learning activities to a bureaucratic, record-keeping role of one who signs off on competencies mastered elsewhere with no knowledge of the quality or rigor of that learning experience.
- Further deprofessionalizes teaching by removing many of the requirements for schools to have certified teachers while also removing limits on class sizes.
- Takes the power of decision making over many educational issues away from locally elected school boards and places it with the appointed Commissioner of Education and the unelected State Board of Education.
They will take written comments by email until April 30th. We encourage you to submit written comment to Administrative Rules Coordinator Julie Shea at Julie.r.shea@doe.nh.gov.
Please take action to tell your state representative to vote Inexpedient to Legislate on SB 341.
Senate Bill 341 requires teachers to report to parents not just about grades, classwork, homework and whether a student is following school rules, but about anything a parent asks about in writing. It creates an undefined standard using language, that even the DOE said was vague and would be impossible for teachers properly follow, to force teachers to spy on their students and report back to their parents. The full NH House will be voting on this bill on Thursday, May 2.
It’s quick and easy. Here’s the link: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/vote-itl-on-sb-341?source=direct_link&
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