Yearly Archives: 2025

PRESS RELEASE: NH House Budget Prioritizes Handouts for Wealthy at the Expense of Kids

CONCORD, NH – Today, the New Hampshire House voted 185-175 in support of a state budget proposal that would erode the foundation of public education and jeopardize the health and wellbeing of New Hampshire’s children and families.   Megan Tuttle, President of NEA-New Hampshire, provided the following statement after the vote: “Budgets are about choices and reflect the values of their creators.   New Hampshire politicians are choosing to prioritize business tax cuts and handouts for the wealthy over programs that support our most vulnerable citizens – children. Politicians are choosing to slash funding for higher education, Medicaid, and developmental disability services […]

PRESS RELEASE: Bipartisan NH House Vote Rejects Mandatory Statewide School Budget Cap 

CONCORD, NH – Today, the New Hampshire House voted 206-165 in support of an amendment to HB 2 that removes the mandatory statewide school budget cap. The legislative language taken from HB 675 was originally inserted by the House Finance Committee; it would have placed an arbitrary cap on school district budgets based on inflation and enrollment trends—regardless of real costs like teacher salaries, special education services, or rising utility bills. Today’s vote comes on the heels of communities across New Hampshire overwhelmingly rejecting petition warrant articles to institute local per pupil spending caps during their annual school district meetings.   […]

PRESS RELEASE: Agreement Temporarily Halts Enforcement of Department of Education’s Unlawful Directive

CONCORD, N.H. – In a major development in the lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Education’s February 14, 2025, Dear Colleague Letter and its April 3, 2025, Certification Requirement, the parties have reached an agreement that blocks the department from taking any enforcement action under either directive until at least April 24, 2025. The agreement, reached after plaintiffs filed an emergency motion to block the Certification Requirement, ensures that no school district, state agency, or higher education institution will face investigation or penalties for failure to return the challenged certification that diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts do not exist within their curriculums.   As part of the agreement, states and […]

4/5/25: NEA-NH Legislative Update

This Week: Draconian House Budget Leaves Finance Committee; Goes to Full Floor Vote  The House Finance Committee finished its work this week on their changes to the state budget. On a 14 – 11 party line vote, the Committee is recommending a draconian state budget that slashes programs and positions while at the same time expanding the unaccountable state voucher program to give your hard-earned tax dollars to wealthy people who already send their kids to elite private schools.  This budget shifts major expenses onto working families, including downshifting costs onto families to pay for adult and for children’s Medicaid […]

3/28/25: NEA-NH Legislative Update

This Week’s Re-Cap  This week was another tough week; the House and Senate cast floor votes, largely on party line, to approve the following bills:   Each of these bills will now “crossover” to the other body and start the process again. This begins with a new round of public hearings, most likely sometime in April. You can look up the bill language on each of these bills and their status using theNEA-NH bill tracker.  HB 2 – State Budget: Voucher Expansion and Mandatory School Budget Caps  This week, the House wrapped up much of its work on the state budget […]

PRESS RELEASE: NH Senate Republicans Vote to Take Public Dollars Away from Public Schools

Under SB 295, Property Taxpayers Will Subsidize Private Education for Wealthy Families CONCORD, NH – Today, the New Hampshire Senate voted on party lines in support of SB 295, which would eliminate eligibility requirements for the state’s unaccountable private school voucher program and institute a universal voucher scheme that would divert millions of public dollars from public schools to subsidize private education for wealthy families. SB 295 will next go to the House of Representatives for further consideration.  Today’s vote is the Chamber’s second to divert taxpayer dollars away from public schools to subsidize private education for wealthy families. It […]