Yearly Archives: 2024

NH House Rejects Bill to Expand School Vouchers, Public Education Advocates Praise Vote

Educators, Parents, Public School Advocates Celebrate Defeat of Bill to Expand School Vouchers from 350% to 425% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines CONCORD, NH – Today, the New Hampshire House voted against the Committee of Conference report on HB 1665-FN, the school voucher expansion bill, by a margin of 185-168, which defeated the bill. School voucher expansion is now dead for the legislative session. HB 1665 would have expanded eligibility for the state’s unaccountable school voucher program from 350% to 425% of the federal poverty level. Lawmakers had previously increased the eligibility, from the original 300%. Public education advocates celebrated the vote […]

Derry Educators Utilize Scott McGilvray Children’s Fund to Break Down Barriers to Student Learning

For 25 years, Alicia Triplett has worked in the Derry School District to support families and kids so they can come to school and take advantage of their education. As a Home/School Coordinator, she knows sometimes there are barriers in the way – and it’s her job to help break those down.  At any given time, Triplett has 100 cases open from kindergarten to eighth grade in the four Derry schools she serves. Triplett says there are many community organizations that work to support students, but not every need can be met. In the recent past, her colleague, Lee Holder, […]

Bedford Educational Personnel Association Uses Personal Connection to Push Toward Goal to Double Membership

“We’re not alone in our struggles and our successes.” That’s the message Suzanne Johnson is bringing to colleagues in her new position as President of Bedford Educational Personnel Association (BEPA). She knows there is strength in numbers, which is why she and her new board leadership team set an ambitious goal of doubling membership by the next negotiation. One year in, they have already increased membership by 67%. “The fact that we’ve made such leaps and bounds this first year is just setting the ball rolling for future years,” Johnson said. Johnson, who has worked in the District for six […]

June 2024: Government Relations Report

Legislative Session Ends with Mixed Results for Educators  This year’s session has seen mixed results at the State House. Coming off the heels of a successful year in working to pass increases in state aid that helped lead to negotiated pay increases for members, we looked to the second year to fend off attacks on the profession, further privatization efforts, and more attempts passing politically motivated culture war legislation that targets LGBTQ+ students. We also sought to make more headway in advancing proactive legislation that we hoped to help energize the pipeline of educators into the profession.  Unfortunately, the state […]

June 2024: Letter from NEA-NH President Megan Tuttle

As another school year is ending, I want to take the opportunity to say thank you. Thank you for being you. Thank you for all your hard work. I know you all work hard every day to deliver a high-quality education to all your students. But I also know that enduring misguided and wrongheaded attacks on public education and educators while you try to do your job is burdensome and taxing. It is deflating. We all experience that when we see and hear people and groups who have no idea or understanding of the value of public education attack our […]

June 8, 2024: NEA-NH Legislative Update

Committees of Conference Conclude   The deadline to sign off on committee of conference reports was this past Thursday, June 6th and many bills saw a compromise product agreed to, but a few did not. In positive news, an effort to allow unlicensed part-time teachers in public schools was rejected and the Rural and Underserved Educator Recruitment Program was revived. Unfortunately, the House and Senate conferees are moving forward with a dramatic expansion of the state’s private school voucher program. More details below!  Voucher Expansion Moves Forward to a Vote June 13th  The most significant education bill moving forward to a […]