House and Senate Pass Universal Voucher and Parental Bill of Rights Legislation
In what was a very disappointing day at the New Hampshire legislature, the two most consequential bills that passed and will be headed to the Governor’s desk soon are SB 295 one of the universal school voucher expansion bills, and HB 10 the so-called “Parental Bill of Rights.”
- SB 295, if signed into law would eliminate the income cap entirely for families to qualify for the school voucher program. While the language includes a soft enrollment ceiling, it is not really a ceiling at all because it automatically increases and eventually goes away. In states that have expanded their voucher programs to universal eligibility we have seen a corresponding decrease in state support for public education. We will be launching an effort to urge Governor Ayotte to veto this irresponsible legislation.
- HB 10 is one of the two so-called “parental bill of rights” proposals put forward. While parents and educators already communicate well to support their students, some anti-public education and anti-LGBTQ+ lawmakers want to insert their personal politics into these critical relationships. You can see the final language headed to the Governor here. Of particular concern for us as educators is the language of the bill around certain “rights” that are undefined and how this law could be enforced with licensed educators.
Now it will be up to the Governor as we urge her to veto these bills that are an attack on public education in New Hampshire. Join us by calling Governor Ayotte at 603-271-2121 and asking her to veto SB 295 and HB 10.
House Passes Bell to Bell Cell Phone Prohibition
On the positive front, the House passed SB 206. As amended, this bill would require school districts to have a policy around the use of personal electronic communication devices in schools, including cellphones. The amendment meets some of the core principles we urged the Legislature to address in a state law around cellphones in schools. You can see the House version of SB 206 here. The bill will now go to the senate for consideration after having already passed another version of this legislation. HB 781 would only set a minimum standard of restriction on use during instructional time. However, the Governor had said she wanted the stronger “bell-to-bell’’ language that the House adopted in SB 206. That bill will now head back to the Senate to either concur or request a committee of conference to hash out differences.
House Tabled SB 54 Amendment on Mandatory Gun Education
Also on the good news front, the House tabled SB 54 along with the non-germane amendment to SB 54 that would have added a requirement that firearms safety training be taught annually in all public schools as part of the health, physical education, or civics curriculum, beginning with the 2026 – 27 school year. Under this amendment, the training would have been mandatory for every public-school student unless a student’s parent or legal guardian receives an exception. We fully expect to see some version of this come back as a new bill next year.
Senate Passes Their Version of the State Budget
The New Hampshire Senate passed their version of the state budget on a party line vote this week. Here are some of the highlights contained in the bill.
On the positive front, the Senate budget:
- Put special education and other public education costs back under the education trust fund. The House had put special education aid in the general fund
- Eliminated some of the ancillary bills that the House stuffed into HB 2, including a removal of the mandatory open enrollment language
On the negative side of the coin, the Senate budget:
- Also contains the language expanding the voucher program and once again dramatically underestimates the projected costs that will be to the detriment of the budget and public education funding broadly
- Kept in a slightly modified version of the provision inserted by House lawmakers to prohibit diversity, equity, and inclusion “programs” or “initiatives” in public schools
- Written language explicitly declaring that the state support for public schools is whatever the legislature says it is and courts don’t have a role to play
The next step in the process will likely be a committee of conference being formed to hash out the differences where all of those House passed budget items will be back in play as part of the discussion in hammering out a compromise budget proposal.
SB 297 – Risk Pool Regulation Legislation Moves Forward
The House also passed on a voice vote what could be compromise legislation on how to change the regulation of the health insurance risk pool organizations that deliver health care coverage for tens of thousands of public employees across the state. The House amended version of SB 297 would create two possible routes a risk pool could be regulated under, the Secretary of State or the Insurance Department, depending on their business model. The bill will now head back to the senate where they can concur with the changes, request a committee of conference on the bill, or kill it outright.
Highlights of Other Important Bills That Had Major Amendments Attached to Them
The following bills are highlights of legislation that were bad, but they also had major amendments attached to them by the House that made them even worse. They were largely issue priorities of the House that the Senate had done away with:
SB 96 – Mandatory Disclosure/ “Outing” Bill
The House also passed SB 96, which has to do with required disclosure of information when a parent makes a written request to a licensed educator. The bill has similar language to one section of the passed parental bill of rights.
However, the House also added a substantial amendment that included some draconian penalties for violations of the larger parental rights bill that passed earlier that day. Please contact your Senator today ask them to do away with this entire bill, instead of adding draconian investigation procedures and penalties on educators.
SB 210 – Study Bill has Bulling Law Re-Write and Mandatory Open Enrollment Added to It
SB 210, which came to the House as a legislative study bill on bullying in schools, is now leaving as a major re-write of the state’s bullying law which has not been vetted at all. The bill also had attached to it the language of HB 741, which would require all public schools to open their enrollment to any student in the state, regardless of their residence. The Senate had already re-referred this policy and removed it from the budget bill, but the House continues to push for it by adding this premature and chaotic legislation to this former study bill. Now that the bill has been transformed in this way, please contact your Senator and ask that they kill SB 210.
SB 213 – Absentee Ballot ID Bill Transformed to Vague Public Employee Electioneering Legislation
SB 213 was a bill about proof of identification when requesting an absentee ballot, but the House gutted that language and put in the language of HB 340 which the senate had done away with earlier this spring. If passed, that language would place new vague restrictions on public employees’ rights to advocate for a candidate or local ballot question like the funding of their collective bargaining agreement during the March school district meeting season. Please tell your senator, to continue to oppose this sort of legislation and kill SB 213 when they meet next.
More Bills!
There was action on more legislation this week on the floor of each chamber we are tracking so please feel free to visit our NEA-NH bill tracker to find a bill you may have been following.
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.