Critical Legislative Decisions Ahead on State Budget
The extremist majorities in the NH House and Senate showed their total disregard for public school students, educators and local property taxpayers as they wrapped up work on bills week. The Senate passed a budget that prioritizes expanding the state’s school voucher program instead of improving funding for students with special education needs in our public schools. The House passed two different bills that focused entirely on parental rights and ignored the best interests of the student and student safety.
The House has now dealt with all the bills passed by the Senate, and the Senate has dealt with all bills passed by the House. If both House and Senate passed identical versions of the bill, it will now be headed to the governor’s desk for signing. Bills where there are differences between the House and Senate versions are left for the two bodies to come to an agreement either through a Committee of Conference or by simply agreeing with the changes the other body made to the bills.
The House and Senate agreed on two major pieces of legislation on Thursday. SB 295, expanding the universal school voucher program to even the wealthiest Granite State families was passed by House and the Senate agreed to the House changes. This bill now goes to the Governor. Universal vouchers are also still in the budget. This is a blow to our local neighborhood public schools and to our local property taxpayers. Students will suffer worse educational outcomes; property taxes will rise and the state’s portion of funding of our schools will remain last-in-the-nation.
The House and Senate also came to agreement on HB 10 the so-called parental bill or rights. This legislation puts teachers in the middle of the student- parent relationship and risks forcibly outing LGBTQ students. It requires that teachers answer any written question from a parent about their child, about any matter the parent asks about, not just about grades, school assignments, and following school rules. The consequence of this law will be that some students who are not safe at home will be put in danger if they disclose their problem to a trusted adult at school. While teachers and school staff can still report what a child tells them to DCYF for investigation and follow up, they will also have to answer truthfully and completely if a parent asks what a student has disclosed at school. Teachers and school staff can only refuse to answer a parent inquiry if they have “clear and convincing” evidence that the student is being abused or neglected and they will not be able to meet this high legal bar. Requiring disclosure to parents in all cases will increase the danger to some students. This bill remains wrong for New Hampshire students and families.
Both of these bills will make their way to the Governor’s desk. The timetable is not certain, it could be a matter of days or weeks before the Governor receives these bills, and we will keep you updated.
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