It’s a huge week of public hearings next week in the New Hampshire House and Senate. Hearings will be held on several universal voucher expansion bills, a bill that would establish a non-credentialed “part-time” teacher to be able to teach in our public schools, a bill that would allow a student to only take a single test to graduate from high school, and one of the new versions of a book ban.
Get ready to take action now because we have a full docket of legislation that seeks to wage an assault on public education. It’s time to make your voice heard!
Click here to view our full legislative tracker to see all the bills we are following this session.
Key Legislative Hearings Next Week
Four More Voucher Expansion Bills Up for Consideration
ACTION REQUESTED: Sign in to OPPOSE four voucher expansion bills being heard on Wednesday, January 17th in the House Education Committee. Please note, comprehensive instructions on how to sign in can be found at the bottom of this email.
There are several bills being heard in the House Education Committee next week that would expand eligibility for the private school voucher system so that anyone could qualify for the program regardless of their income either because the income qualification requirement is eliminated or because the categories created in the bill are so broad that it is effectively a universal voucher program.
The fiscal consequences alone for expanding vouchers would be dire for our public schools and our students. For example, in Arizona – where they quickly expanded their voucher program to be universal – their vouchers are on track to cost over $900 million in their second year. That figure is 1,400% higher than projected. Like our own program here in New Hampshire, these vouchers are primarily being used by families who previously chose private school and is all new spending. The Arizona universal voucher program is also primarily benefiting more affluent families in wealthier zip codes. This should serve as a cautionary tale for us here in New Hampshire. Their program put the state in a massive deficit that leaves the state and local school districts few options but to cut funding or raise local property taxes.
Opening this unaccountable program to wealthy families is the opposite direction we need to go in. Instead of sending taxpayer money to private schools we should focus on public schools – where nearly 90% of our children attend – not take money away from them. We need to reduce class sizes and give our students more one-on-one attention and increase salaries to address the teacher and staff shortages.
Voucher expansion bill details here:
- HB 1634 – would simply remove any income qualification making vouchers available to any child who is eligible to go to public school, even if their parents are millionaires and the student already attends private school.
- HB 1677 – extends eligibility for the voucher program to students who participated in the program in the preceding year, students whose enrollment transfer requests were denied, and to students in school districts which performed at 49 percent or below in statewide assessments. The vague language of the various categories of this bill could effectively open the program to anyone. These categories also hold no income limit.
- HB 1561 – expands the definition of who can qualify for vouchers to such broad categories of students that it is also effectively a universal voucher program. One allowed category states anyone “who is concerned that attending school could lead to the spread of contagious diseases such as COVID-19, the common cold, the seasonal Flu, pneumonia, or other similar diseases” qualifies with no income limit. No joke.
- HB 1665 – raises the income eligibility from 350% of the federal poverty level to 500%, which for a family of four is $150,000 per year. This would also be a significant expansion of the program.
SB 374: Part-time – no need for a credential?
ACTION REQUESTED: Please register your opposition to this bill by signing in or submitting testimony using the state Senate remote sign in platform. The hearing is Tuesday January 16th at 9am in the Senate Education Committee. Please note, comprehensive instructions on how to sign in can be found at the bottom of this email.
SB 374 would create the status of a “part-time” teacher in state law. It would provide that any teacher who works less than 30 hours a week would not be required to hold a credential from the state board of education, provided that they be subject to the educator Code of Conduct and had not had a license revoked or denied because of another provision in law. Lowering the standards of who can teach in a public school is the wrong approach for our students. If this is an attempt to try and help solve staffing shortages, it is a misguided policy. Regardless of whether someone teaches full or part-time, they ought to possess the knowledge and skills to teach effectively.
HB 1402: Take a Test…And you Get a Diploma!
ACTION REQUESTED: Before the public hearing on January 16th at 10am, please urge the House Education Committee to reject HB 1402 so we can ensure students who hold a New Hampshire high school diploma have had the opportunity to master the competencies that will help them succeed. Please note, comprehensive instructions on how to sign in can be found at the bottom of this email.
HB 1402 gives the Commissioner of Education the power to develop a high school proficiency exam and adopt his own rules and procedures for administering that exam. Passing this unnamed exam would also result in that student testing out of high school and receiving a “state” or local school district diploma and would also relieve any compulsory attendance requirements for a high school student. We know passing one test does not ensure students have the knowledge they need to be prepared for college or a career. New Hampshire has prided itself on striving for student competency in critical disciplines by showing they can apply their knowledge and we know tests do not necessarily prove competency. A local school district should not have to issue a diploma based on the results of a test that has yet to be developed by the Commissioner of Education.
HB 1419: Book Bans are Back!
ACTION REQUESTED: Please take the time to sign in against HB 1419. The public hearing is Thursday, January 18th at 9:30am in the House Education Committee. Please note, comprehensive instructions on how to sign in can be found at the bottom of this email.
HB 1419 is just one of this year’s attempts at a book ban modeled after similar bills recently introduced in other state legislatures. Like others before it, the bill contains vague language left open to interpretation and once again contains violations of the Code of Conduct. The bill sets up a process to follow that ends with the state board of education and does not truly allow local school districts to develop their own policies around reviewing potentially objectionable material.
There are more sensible proposals to review school and library materials in the legislature this year and lawmakers should consider those rather than adopt this bill.
Recap of Hearings and Key Committee Votes this Past Week
This past week was our first full week of hearings and committee votes already taking place on consequential bills. Here are the highlights and next steps on key legislation affecting public education:
SB 442: Voucher Expansion Bill voted out of Senate Education
On a 4 – 2 party line vote, the Senate Education Committee recommended passing SB 442 with a minor amendment. As a reminder, this bill would allow any student’s family, regardless of income, who is denied a manifest hardship exemption to obtain a private school voucher. The current program limits voucher eligibility to 350% of the Federal Poverty Level to enter the program. This bill could flood local school boards with manifest hardship requests with this added financial incentive of receiving a voucher if denied, making this a potentially wide-open eligibility program and taking scarce money away from our public-school students.
NEA-NH Opposed “Educator Indoctrination” Bill at Public Hearing
This week NEA-NH also delivered testimony to the House Education Committee on why they ought to reject the most recent version of a former “teacher loyalty” bill, now called “educator indoctrination” in the form of HB 1206. We urged the House Education Committee to “find HB 1206 Inexpedient to Legislate and focus on legislation that will strengthen the educator workforce and fulfill the obligation the state holds to ensure each student has access to a robust and world class public education.” The next step for this bill is that the committee will need to make a recommendation on whether to recommend passage of the bill to the full New Hampshire House.
So-called “Right-to-Work” Hearing Proved It Is Still Wrong for NH
This week we also delivered testimony to the House Labor Committee, once again opposing HB 1377, this session’s so-called “right-to-work” legislation. This kind of legislation is an attack on both public and private sector unions and their members so please take the time to sign in against this bill before the hearing to remind your state representatives that after decades of special interest groups trying to pass this legislation, “Right-to-Work” is still wrong for NH! The committee did not take a vote on the bill this week.
School Funding Bills
The House Education Committee also heard several bills looking to increase the state’s share of education funding to local communities in some form. The House formed a bi-partisan subcommittee that will almost immediately be taking all the bills heard this week and working on producing something they can recommend to the full House. Any recommendation they make would still need to go before the House Finance Committee even if it passes after the work done by this subcommittee. NEA-NH President Megan Tuttle sent a letter to Rep. Ladd this week committing to support the work of this committee and why the need for the Legislature to act is so dire. More to come on this as the subcommittee begins its work.
Questions?
If you have questions on any of these bills or ones not mentioned here, please feel free to contact Brian Hawkins, NEA-NH Director of Government Relations at bhawkins@nhnea.org.
Need help signing in on legislation? Follow these comprehensive instructions (details for public hearings are contained in each action request)
For House bills:
1. Visit this link: House of Representatives – Online Testimony Submission
2. Enter your personal information
3. Select the hearing date
4. Select the committee
5. Choose the bill
6. I am – A member of the public
7. Choose who you are representing – Myself
8. Indicate your position on this bill
9. Upload remote testimony (Optional)
10. Review information and click submit
For Senate bills:
1. Go to https://bit.ly/3S4Cof1 and click the date that the bill you are interested in is being heard
2. Select the committee that is hearing the bill
3. Select the bill you are interested in
4. Select a category – Member of the Public
5. Indicate your position on this bill
6. Click continue
7. Enter your name and contact information
8. Click continue
9. Carefully review the information to ensure it is entered correctly. If it is correct, check the box and click continue.