2026 NH Legislative Session Wraps Up – We Still Need You
Earlier this month, the Legislature wrapped up another tumultuous session, passing a series of highly consequential bills that could have a major impact on your students, your profession, and public education in New Hampshire. You may already be feeling the impact of budget cuts caused by the State’s failure to adequately fund public schools in your district, as layoff notices go out, and programs are cut back.
In our current environment of constrained school district budgets and property tax stressors, there are a few key bills that you should pay extra close attention – and act on. All of the bills below have been adopted by the Legislature and will next go to Governor Ayotte for her action. We have made it easy for you to email the Governor to share your thoughts; it’s also easy – and incredibly impactful – to call her office directly. Her official number is 603-271-2121; you can leave a voicemail or a message with staff – just make sure to leave your name, town, and call to action!
HB 1817 Directly Subsidizes the EFA Program with Local Property Tax Dollars for the First Time
HB 1817 would require local school districts to provide access to curricular classes and programs to students who receive vouchers with no compensation, requiring local tax dollars and resources to subsidize the voucher program. State lawmakers have consistently stated that local funds are not being used for the voucher program; HB 1817 changes that.
If this bill becomes law, local taxpayers will pay twice—once for a voucher and again for classes provided by the local public school.
Currently, families can access school district programs for their students now by using their "Education Freedom Account” voucher to pay for those resources. If this legislation simply required that EFA voucher students not be charged a different rate than other non-traditional pathways, we would not have taken issue with the bill. However, they went a step further by requiring local districts to subsidize a program the state is already sending adequacy dollars to from the Education Trust Fund.
ACT NOW: Tell Governor Ayotte – don't raise property taxes to pay for private school vouchers!
HB 1300 Forces Communities to Vote on School District Tax Caps in November
HB 1300 as amended would require communities to hold school tax cap votes at each of the next two even year General Elections: November of 2026 and 2028. The language specifically targets school districts with arbitrary caps that don’t address the real issue of public education funding inequities in our state. The bill also contains several convoluted provisions that would make it confusing to voters and difficult to administer in school districts that are made up of more than one town. Just like all these tax cap gimmicks put forward by the Legislature and ones you may have seen at your town or school district meetings, they use an arbitrary formula that does not consider the lack of aid from the state or the needs of our students.
If the Governor signs HB 1300, the tax cap question in the bill will appear on your state ballot this November—not during your local school community budgeting or contract negotiation process as is currently permitted by state law.
Every New Hampshire community is different. Local voters, educators, and school leaders understand the needs of their schools far better than lawmakers in Concord. HB 1300 undermines local control and voter will by requiring every community to vote on a one-size-fits-all school spending cap. It would make it harder for local communities to make decisions about their schools and respond to changing needs.
TAKE ACTION: Tell Governor Ayotte to protect public schools and veto HB 1300!
More Bills Heading to Governor Ayotte
If you’ve been following along with our Legislative Updates this year, you know there are several other high-impact bills that will be making their way to Governor Ayotte’s desk soon. Once they land on her desk, she has five days to sign the bill, veto the bill, or it becomes law without her signature. We’ll let you know when these bills advance, but you can certainly reach out to her office with your thoughts and concerns before the bills reach her desk. As a reminder, the official number for Governor Ayotte is 603-271-2121.
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HB 340 makes changes to the 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.
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HB 1374 would lower the standards for a town to unilaterally withdraw from a cooperative school district. We are concerned that this proposal lacks enough safeguards given the ramifications of a community withdrawal and believe we should stick with current law. It also creates a confusing voter petition process to initiate school closures.
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SB 430: This bill is the return of a bill that mandates written answers from educators in response to inquiries; it is too broad and risks putting educators in a position of outing a student. SB 430 also uses the threat of a potential violation of the educator code of conduct as an enforcement mechanism.
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SB 434: As amended, this bill would require school boards to adopt and post a policy for addressing complaints against public school materials. The language, however, uses several undefined and vague terms that will only invite a flood of subjective claims against books and other materials that will chill the diversity of educational material available for students.
You can see a list of all the bills we are tracking that passed the House and Senate by subscribing to the following list of bills yet to be acted on by the Governor.
Stay Tuned for our Legislator Scorecard
Want to know how your legislators did this session? Stay tuned for our 2026 NEA-NH coming soon this summer along with a final list of all the law changes that affect you as educators.
