AFT-NH Legislative Bulletin (April 18, 2025) ACTION ALERTS

Legislative Cross-Over

Up Next: Book Bans and Expanded Vouchers

This week marked the crossover point in the legislative session. Bills that have passed the House now go to the Senate for a hearing and bills that have passed the Senate move onto the House for a hearing. It gives us a second chance to use our voices to try to stop awful policies, improve bad ones and, try to pass good ones.

HB 115-FN, school voucher expansion. Next week the House and Senate will continue committee hearings and working on legislation we are following. HB 115, which is the House universal school voucher expansion bill, will be heard in front of Senate Education. We have said it time and time again in this space. New Hampshire cannot afford universal vouchers. We already fail to properly fund our neighborhood public schools, which are available to every Granite State student. Vouchers have zero accountability and a track record that shows student academic achievement declines while they are using a voucher to attend a private educational program. At least that has been the track record in places that make student achievement data publicly available when they are using a taxpayer funded voucher. New Hampshire does not make that data available as it is considered proprietary information belonging to the third-party contractor running the voucher program who receives up to 10% of each voucher.  And of course, New Hampshire cannot afford to give another tax break to the ultra-wealthy while leaving hardworking Granite Staters property taxpayers to pick up the tab. Click here to register your opposition to HB 115. The bill is being heard on Tuesday, April 22^nd at 10:15 am before Senate Education.

We also have SB 33 which is the Senate version of their book ban bill. We should not ban books or remove classroom materials based on one parent’s complaint. Period. If you do not want your child to read a book, you should have the conversation with them and let them know why. But one parent does not get to determine what another parent’s kid can read. If there are issues, they can be brought forward to the librarians and schools boards and worked on locally. We do not need a state driven process that ends with our libraries being bare.

Please submit register your opposition remotely and to tell the House Education Policy Committee “NO TO BOOK BANS” (SB 33).  The hearing is Wednesday, April 23^rd at 11:00 a.m. https://gc.nh.gov/house/committees/remotetestimony/

Your continued advocacy is making a difference and we need to all stand together. Thank you.

Submitting Your Position and Testimony

Here is easy access to submit your position on bills before House and Senate Committees.

Remember, if a bill is already scheduled for an Executive Session, you will not be able to submit your position.

To submit your position, click SUBMIT YOUR POSITION TO A HOUSE COMMITTEE HERE.

To submit your position, click SUBMIT YOUR POSITION TO A SENATE COMMITTEE HERE.

• Fill in your Personal Information
• Select the relevant date and committee for the hearing by clicking on it in the Meeting Schedule Calendar (make sure you are on the right week). [Select Bill # and select the date].
• In the dropbox below "Select the Committee," select committee.
• In the dropbox below "Choose the Bill," select the appropriate time and bill number.
• Select the appropriate option for the "I am" dropbox (likely "Member of the Public").
• 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."
• Under the “Indicate Your Position on this Bill,” check the circle stating your position on the bill. “I Oppose this Bill” or “I Support this Bill”
• After filling in all of the appropriate dropboxes, click “Submit.”
• After clicking submit, you will be brought to the next page, where you will fill in the content boxes with your first and last name, as well as your town, state, and email address.
• Press “Continue.”
• 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 upload your testimony if you cannot attend.
• If you wish to submit testimony on the bill, email the relevant committee and upload the testimony file from your computer (if you need assistance in this, we are happy to help).

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

Upcoming Legislative Hearings

Week of April 21, 2025