Yearly Archives: 2019

Court: NH School Funding Unconstitutional

CONCORD, NH – June 6. 2019 – Today’s ruling confirms what NEA-NH has been saying for years: New Hampshire has failed to provide stable, equitable and truly adequate funding for our public schools for decades.  The Cheshire County Court issued the ruling on the lawsuit brought forth by Contoocook Valley (ConVal), Monadnock, Winchester, and Mascenic School Districts over the amount that the state provides in funding for NH schools, ruling that the funding formula is unconstitutional. “Our elected leaders have regularly put the interests of the wealthy and corporations ahead of the needs of our public school students and set […]

Watch for Student Loan Errors

Some loan servicers may be dropping the ball on keeping you up-to-date on how much you may owe. By Kaitlin Pitsker, Associate Editor If you’re paying off student debt, you may not be able to rely on the company that manages your loan to help you select the best repayment option—or even give you accurate information about how much you owe. A recent report by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General found that the companies the department pays to manage and collect payments on federal student loans—known as loan servicers—failed to provide borrowers with accurate information about […]

NEA-NH Files “Learn Everywhere” Right-to-Know Request

CONCORD, NH – June 4, 2019 – This morning, NEA-New Hampshire filed a Right to Know request with the Department of Education requesting all records and communications regarding the Commissioner’s “Learn Everywhere” proposal. “The fact is, these rules were written without meaningful input from public school educators, administrators and parents. Members from groups representing teachers, school boards, school administrators, school principals, and special education professionals have all spoken out in opposition to this plan,” said Megan Tuttle, NEA-New Hampshire President. “I cannot recall another time when all five of these groups were as unified on anything.” “Learn Everywhere completely tramples […]

Labor Movement Comes Back Big After ‘Janus’

In January, Virginia teacher Nicole Loch attended a #RedForEd rally at the statehouse in Richmond. She arrived on a charter bus sponsored by the Fauquier Education Association (FEA), even though Loch had never joined the union—a decision she had resisted for 11 years.“It was a bus full of other educators from my county,” says Loch, a civics teacher at Auburn Middle School in Warrenton. “When I got to Richmond, I saw the power of mobilization and strength in numbers,” she says. “I knew then I needed to join.” Loch marched and chanted for a mile—from Monroe Park to the capitol […]

The Floor is Yours

If you could ask the presidential candidates one question, what would it be? Help us draw attention to the challenges facing public education by telling us what matters most to you, your students, and your community. Hundreds of thousands of educators have taken action in the past two years alone. The power of this union and our members has been on full display in cities and states across the country. And now we are taking this activism and ground game to the 2020 campaign where educators will play a major role in choosing the president of the United States. We […]

Housing and Schools: How Educators can Help Students

Quick! Do housing and land use policies come to mind when you think about what’s necessary for all students to learn to their fullest potential? If you’re like most people, probably not. But housing and land use policies, concludes a new report, have a “significant effect on schools” and can “affect enrollment trends, concentrations of poverty and school diversity, school funding, stability of enrollment vs. ‘churning’ of students, and [the] ability of students to complete their homework and focus during the school day.”