Committee of Conference Week Concludes: What you Need to Know
The week of Committees of Conference ended with several of the final bills dying due to House and Senate conferees being unable to come to agreement on issues from changes to recess and play based learning requirements to expansion of access to school meals. However, proposed compromises were reached on a few key education bills that will now have to go back to the House and Senate for a floor vote on June 4. These are the final bills we will be asking you to contact your legislators about this year before we transition to outreach to the Governor’s office.
HB 1300: Mandatory Tax Cap Vote
The House and Senate conferees agreed to a compromise proposal on HB 1300 that would require communities to hold school tax cap votes at each of the next two even year General Elections; November of 2026 and 2028. These caps specifically target school districts with arbitrary caps that don’t address the real issue of public education funding inequities in our state.
HB 751: Inadequate Open Enrollment Bill Moves Again to House and Senate for Floor Vote
Late on Thursday, the House and Senate conferees reached a compromise proposal on HB 751 after much behind the scenes disagreement. This compromise proposal is a complete change and makes a major adjustment to the current law, which currently allows school district voters to adopt an open enrollment policy that sets a limit on the number of incoming open enrollment students and on the number of outgoing students it will pay tuition for under open enrollment.
If adopted, the minimum limit school districts could set would now be 10% of its current pupil enrollment (currently the minimum is zero). That minimum would apply to the number of students the school district would pay for to attend another open enrollment school.
During annual school district meetings this year, roughly 100 communities voted on open enrollment. Of the 97 districts that adopted open enrollment policies, only two would be in compliance with this language.
This late amendment fails to address the concerns expressed by educators and families throughout this legislative session. Instead, it simply doubles down on the ill-conceived process that mandates school districts pay their average per pupil spending amount to another district.
Other Committee of Conference Bills
Here is an update on several other bills that made it through the Committees of Conference process and will next go back to the full Legislature for votes on June 4:
- HB 340 make changes to law around the prohibition on electioneering by public employees while in the course of their duties. We still have concerns that the changes proposed in this bill are not only unnecessary but are vague and subjective. - OPPOSE
- HB 1374 would lower the standards for a town to unilaterally withdraw from a cooperative school district. We are concerned this proposal lacks enough safeguards given the ramifications of a community withdrawal and believe we should stick with current law. - OPPOSE
You can see the full list of bills we have been tracking in Committees of Conference here.
NEA-NH Action Center
Most of the tools and information you need to be a legislative advocate for public education are right at your fingertips through NEA-New Hampshire. Check out our NEA-NH Action Center to get all the information you need about issues we’re tracking at the State House, how to communicate with your lawmakers, and how to take action on specific bills.
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 [email protected].
Need help signing in on legislation? Follow these comprehensive instructions (details for public hearings are contained in each action request).
For House hearings:
1. Visit this link: https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/committees/remotetestimony/default.aspx
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 hearings:
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.
