State Budget Narrowly Passes
The New Hampshire Legislature narrowly passed a state budget after the last-minute negotiations yielded a compromise between Governor Ayotte and House and Senate Republican leadership. The Governor had threatened to veto the budget because it did not include the Governor’s preferred retirement plan changes for Group II employees (police and fire) and it contained a cap on state education aid that would have impacted only the Manchester School District, resulting in a $12 million reduction in state aid for the 2026-27 school year. Wednesday evening, however, the leadership and Governor agreed to a reprieve for Manchester from the funding reduction, and a middle ground on retirement increases for those law enforcement and firefighters who were working but did not yet have vested status when significant changes were made to most public employee pensions back in 2011 and 2012.
Contained in this final budget is a mix of positive and negative provisions that will undoubtedly impact public education over the next two years and into the future. Here is a summary of the major provisions affecting public education:
The Positive:
- “Bell-to-bell” cell phone ban: Budget negotiators put the contents of SB 206 as amended by the House in the budget trailer bill. This language requires school districts to adopt policies prohibiting the use of cell phones and other electronic communication devices throughout the regular school day. Read our statement on this policy here.
- Special Education Aid Stays in Education Trust Fund and the Governor is allowed (but not required) to draw a warrant with the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee approval if this budgeted amount of aid is exhausted. This past year the Education Commissioner had simply pro-rated reimbursement to communities, which resulted in an unexpected hit in their budgets.
- Mandatory Open Enrollment REMOVED: The Senate would not agree to the House plan to make every public school an open enrollment school to any student in the state regardless of residence. The standalone policy bill, HB 741, was retained in House Finance and so they will report on it in the fall for a floor vote in January.
The In-Between:
- Education Funding Formula: Conferees ultimately agreed to the Senate plan for state education aid for the next two years. The Senate plan largely preserved the funding formula from the last biennium. The compromise that saved Manchester from a state funding reduction had been due to a cap on additional aid for communities with more than 5,000 students, which is now put off for two years. While that late development was positive, there was no major push to boost state aid as we wait for a consequential school funding decision from the State Supreme Court.
The Negative:
- Ban on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Threatens School Districts’ Funding: The final budget includes a slightly modified version of the House provision to prohibit diversity, equity, and inclusion “programs” or “initiatives” in public schools. This provision remains vague as to what is included and still leaves these decisions solely to the Commissioner of Education who can withhold funding to school districts for engaging in such undefined programing.
- Universal Voucher Expansion Gets No Additional Restraints: While the universal voucher expansion policy was already signed into law in a separate bill (SB 295), the state budget estimates for the program are already far too low for what they are on pace to spend. This will reduce the amount of overall money available to support public schools. With no additional guardrails placed on the program, it already looks like private schools are looking to drive signups for current students to offset other costs.
- New Medicaid Premiums: This budget requires the Department of Health and Human Services to institute new premium costs for low- and moderate-income adults and children under the state’s Medicaid program. Granite Advantage and CHIP premiums would be determined based on fixed dollar amounts, rather than a percentage of income as introduced in past proposals. Among the Granite Advantage program, premiums would be $60 per month for a household of one, $80 for two, $90 for three, and $100 for four or more during the second year of the biennium. For CHIP, families would be expected to pay higher premiums: $190 for a household of two, $230 for three, and $270 for four or more.
Other Important Bills Acted On
The Legislature also approved on party lines several important bills that came out of a Committee of Conference that could negatively impact educators:
- SB 213, as passed, broadens the public employee prohibition on electioneering statute while an employee is in the performance of their duties. We already have a law around this that works well. Our concern with this new untested language in the bill is that it could go well beyond protection against improper electioneering while at work, and infringe upon public employee free speech rights, like the ability to advocate for a for the funding of a collective bargaining agreement during the school district meeting season. Stay tuned for more on this legislation as we look toward encouraging the Governor to veto this overly broad legislation.
- SB 97 authorizes parents to transfer their children to other schools within their resident district so long as such school has the capacity to accommodate the student. The term “capacity” was left undefined in the bill, which could end up being left to the school district policies to further clarify what would be included. This legislation is not the broader statewide open enrollment language that was shelved in the committee of conference report. Members in school districts that are large enough to have multiple elementary, middle or high schools should pay close attention to how policies are crafted at the school district level in order to implement this law.
ACTION REQUEST: Call on Governor Ayotte to VETO Anti-Public Education Bills!
Some of the harmful bills that passed several weeks ago have completed their enrollment processes, which means they are close to reaching Governor Ayotte’s desk.
Join us by calling Governor Ayotte at 603-271-2121 and asking her to veto HB 90, HB 235, and HB 324!
HB 90 – Unlicensed Part-Time Teacher Bill
HB 90, as passed by the House and Senate, seeks to create the status of part-time (less than 20 hours per week) unlicensed teachers in New Hampshire’s public schools. It could lower the quality of education that students receive and negatively impact the education profession. For school districts with tighter budgets, this would only incentivize administrators to hire temporary fill-in educators rather than licensed teachers who are invested in the school community and their students.
HB 235 – Educator Code of Conduct Expansion
If signed into law by Governor Ayotte, this bill could give the NH Department of Education the ability to expand the Educator Code of Conduct to include an unknown set of responsibilities to parents (not just students as it does currently). Our concern is that the Department might try to place a completely unreasonable set of expectations on educators beyond what the legislature may have intended through the rulemaking process. The Educator Code of Conduct is also tied to state licensure and the ability of the DOE to investigate and act on educator licenses. Parents are already included in the school community section of the ECC so we will be telling Governor Ayotte there is no need to add further unknown responsibilities through state board of education rules.
HB 324 – Book Ban Bill that Criminalizes Educators
New Hampshire already has an objectionable materials law for our public schools which allows ANY parent to opt their child out of any required coursework, curriculum, or material. Like many culture war bills, HB 324 would go way beyond parental opt-out by potentially imposing one parent’s objections on others. Additionally, and perhaps most concerning, this bill imposes potential criminal and licensure penalties for educators in what is otherwise another vaguely established process written by national interests attempting to pass this cookie-cutter legislation in other states.
Join us to urge Kelly Ayotte to reject book bans by vetoing HB 324!
More Bills!
There was action on more legislation this week in committees of conference 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 [email protected].
