Megan Tuttle, NEA-NH President, provided testimony in opposition of HB 1255 on January 20, 2022. Here is the transcript of her submitted remarks:
Dear Chairman Ladd and honorable members of the House Education Committee,
My name is Megan Tuttle, President of NEA-NH, where we represent over 17,000 public school educators across our state.
I am here on behalf of NEA-NH to strongly object to the passage of HB 1255, which we see as a doubling down on the banned concepts law enacted in HB 2, a law already subject to 2 federal lawsuits because of the chilling effect it has had on our student’s receiving an education they deserve, and the hate it has spawned in its wake, like bounties on the heads of our teachers.
Our own education statutes state that “In this system, the state establishes minimum standards for public school approval and academic standards for inclusion and delivery of educational services at the local level. School districts then have responsibility and flexibility in implementing diverse educational approaches to instruction and curriculum tailored to meet student needs.”
Unfortunately, HB 1255, like the “banned concepts” law, does just the opposite of this mission, rather this bill is an example of politicians attempting to whitewash our history by rewriting it.
This legislation states, “No teacher shall advocate any doctrine or theory promoting a negative account or representation of the founding and history of the United States of America in New Hampshire public schools which does not include the worldwide context of now outdated and discouraged practices.”
Similarly, to the banned concepts law that precedes it, this bill raises many questions about what it prohibits, particularly in a classroom setting. Where is the line between the teaching and discussion of history versus advocating? According to this bill, what “worldwide context” makes the history of slavery an acceptable subject to be teaching about in the classroom?
In addition, the passage of a bill such as this would not only mean teachers would have to navigate yet another vague classroom censorship law, but they would also be doing it with the same threat of punishment using the educator code of conduct, like in the banned concepts law.
Our students deserve an honest and accurate education that enables them to learn from the mistakes of our past to help create a better future. Legislation like HB 1255 inhibits this with its language that seems to indicate that past mistakes were anything other than what than wrongs that should not be repeated and whose effects still haunt our nation today.
As educators, if we are going to prepare children for the future, we need to teach them both the good and the bad of our history so that they better understand the lives, cultures and experiences of different people and HB 1255 would inhibit this from happening.
So, on behalf of educators across New Hampshire, whose loyalty is to their students, I ask that you find HB 1255 inexpedient to legislate.
Respectfully submitted,
Megan Tuttle
NEA-NH President