This week the 2026 New Hampshire Legislative Session begins, and we know our policy work will be primarily defensive in nature, driven by continued attacks from anti-public education and anti-union lawmakers. This reality makes our unity, our vigilance, and our collective action more important than ever.
As educators, we have to have an interest in politics because politics is interested in us—and our students, our schools, and our communities.
As the state’s largest educator union, NEA-New Hampshire is committed to elevating your voices and values at the State House as lawmakers consider legislation that would impact your profession and public education broadly.
In 2026, we will continue to fight for the fundamental right to organize, bargain collectively, and enforce our contracts. We will work to reject any bill that weakens public employees’ voices by dividing them (HB 1704) or stripping away hard-won protections (HB 1645).
We know decisions about our schools belong in our communities—not Concord. That’s why we will oppose state overreach and defend locally elected school boards. We oppose bills that undermine local control and take away critical decision-making authority from local voters, such as HB 675, which would impose a mandatory school budget cap without community approval.
Despite winning universal vouchers last year, anti-public education politicians are continuing their push to further privatize education. We will oppose bills like SB 581, which would further expand vouchers, because we know public dollars belong in public schools. Period.
NEA-New Hampshire will always stand up for students’ civil rights, freedom to read, due process, access to services, and safe, inclusive learning environments. We are discouraged to see out-of-touch lawmakers continue pushing efforts to ban books despite Governor Ayotte’s veto of similar legislation in 2025. Some lawmakers continue to push for legislation that would force educators to out LGBTQ+ students—something we strongly oppose.
Students and educators deserve schools that are safe, healthy, and focused on learning—not fear. We support measures such as SB 463 to maintain gun-free schools and HB 1451 to address extreme classroom temperatures. We will also continue to defend strong public health protections, including school immunization requirements.
Respecting educator expertise is essential to solving our recruitment and retention challenges. We will lift up bills that entrust educators while opposing punitive systems, lowered professional standards, and government overreach. We will push back against mandates that dictate curriculum without educator involvement, including HB 1122, which would require firearm-related instruction in public schools.
Finally, we will continue our work to secure adequate, sustainable, and equitable funding for public schools. We must close funding gaps—especially in special education—and support competitive wages and benefits. Bills like SB 584 and HB 1557 are important steps in the right direction.
As you can see, this will not be an easy legislative session. We truly have our work cut out for us. Educator voices will be critical in holding lawmakers accountable for their votes.
I encourage you to stay engaged with NEA-New Hampshire in 2026:
- Use our bill tracker to follow legislative priorities
- Read our weekly legislative updates
- Tune in to Brian’s one-minute policy meetings (posted weekly on Instagram and Facebook)
- Sign up for NEA-NH email alerts
- Watch for urgent action alerts on NEA-NH social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, and Bluesky) and our website’s Action Center
- Contribute to NEA-NH's Apple Corps PAC to support candidates who support you and your students!
Anti-public education politicians want to keep us from standing up for our students. They will hurt our bargaining power, lower our pay and benefits, and stifle our voices for students. We can’t let them.
Together, we must stand strong for our profession, our students, and the promise of public education in New Hampshire.
