AFT-NH Legislative Bulletin (March 21, 2025) ACTION NEEDED

Your Advocacy Needed

Stop HB 675 ~ Save Local Control

We are heading into legislative crossover. What does that mean? It means all of the bills that pass the House will make their way over to the Senate and all of the bills that passed the Senate make their way over to the House. It is a good time to reassess where we are and where the fights are ahead of us.

The budget will be the biggest battle, not only because it will determine how much State money our public schools will receive, but also because other bills have been folded into it. This week House Republicans on Finance Division II added both HB 675 and HB 115 to the budget. HB 115 is voucher expansion. This plan amounts to nothing less than a giveaway to millionaires who are already sending their kids to a private school at the expense of hard-working Granite Staters property taxpayers.  While this budget includes money for Universal Vouchers, it does not keep pace with current needs to reimburse local school districts for complex special education cases and cuts essential agencies that protect children like the Office of the Child Advocate. It also institutes an income tax by requiring hardworking Granite State families pay up to 5% for their Medicaid coverage.

HB 675 is the bill that imposes a statewide school spending cap onto every local school district. Local voters are entirely capable of making decisions about how to manage their local school district budgets. They know the needs best and they also are the ones who have to pay the property taxes. In many communities, voters had the chance to adopt a local budget cap, and turned it down.  The extremist majority in Concord has made it clear they have a disdain for local voters, especially those who vote at town meeting and want to support their public schools.

Though both of these bills are in the budget, we expect amendments to remove them in the upcoming weeks.

Please take this action now and ask others to do the same. HB 675 only passed the House by a mere 5 votes so it is critically important to keep engaging with your state representatives over this very important issue. TAKE ACTION NOW TO STOP HB 675

And as we go through this challenging budget process continue to reach out to your representatives to tell them why universal school vouchers are wrong and this giveaway to wealthy families to send their kids to private school is wrong. You can find your own state representative here.  Tell your Representative NO expanding vouchers.

Another issue we will be watching are the numerous so-called parental bills of rights bills. The House passed HB 10 this week and last week the Senate passed SB 72. The Senate also has SB 96 which has similar language, that will come up to a vote next week. Like the bills that have been around before, these bills force teachers to become spies, tracking and recording all things that happen in the school just in case they get questions from a parent. The teacher would then have to report out information to parents even if they do not know the whole story or what it may mean. We have said it 1000 times but we will say it again, schools work best when parents and teachers work together as a team in the best interest of the student. We all want that, but we also don’t want teachers to find themselves in the middle of the parent and student relationship. It is not appropriate and can lead to more issues.

One last thing this week. As expected, this week President Trump issued an executive order to close the US Department of Education. This order would affect our most vulnerable students the most, threatening special education funding and Title 1 funding and ensuring that even more education costs will be passed on to local property tax payers. Our students deserve better and they will be hurt by this action. You can read the statement by AFT-NH President Deb Howes here.

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).

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Upcoming Legislative Hearings

Week of March 24, 2025