Legislative Action

The Solution to a Political Problem Can Be Found at the Ballot Box

Many New Hampshire schools started the new school year with fewer educators than they ended with in June. Some schools still face critical shortages in key areas. Educators across the state are optimistic as always about the prospects of the new year, and are anxious to get back into our classrooms with our students, but we all wonder how we got here, will things get any worse, and what can we do to make it better? As summer vacation memories fade, the nightmare of last year’s teacher loyalty bills, divisive concepts laws, gun violence in schools and Commissioner Edelblut’s constant […]

NEA-NH Statement on Senate Passage of HB 1431

Parents and teachers in New Hampshire have been working together for a long time to ensure our schools consistently provide what’s best for our children and their education. It’s part of the reason New Hampshire is always in the top 5 ranked public school systems in the country. Instead of building upon the on-going parent-teacher relationship, HB 1431 takes the opposite approach. Its broad language around so-called rights and notice, particularly on the heels of the banned concepts law, coupled with the threat of litigation will only provoke a greater chill in our schools. Rather than working to encourage educators […]

NEA-NH Opposes Extreme Anti-Masking Bill HB 1131

HB1131 seeks to prohibits school boards and accredited nonpublic schools from adopting, enforcing, or implementing a policy that requires students or members of the public to wear a facial covering. The bill also enables any person who claims to be aggrieved by this proposed law to be able to initiate a civil action against a school, the district, or the local school board as well as other litigation adds a violation of the law by a certified educator to the growing list of proposed violations of the code of conduct. and will make our schools less safe. HB 1131 is […]

NEA-NH: We must hold every school to the same standard, whether public or private.

NEA-New Hampshire President, Megan Tuttle, offered testimony today in favor of swift passage of HB 1607, a bill that would ensure “that there shall be no unlawful discrimination in any public school, private school, approved school tuition program, or educational service that receives public funds.” Here is the text of her testimony: Chairman Ladd and Honorable members of the House Education Committee, My name is Megan Tuttle, I am the President of NEA-NH and I represent more than 17,000 New Hampshire educators. For more than 168 years it has been our mission to advocate for the children and public-school employees […]

NEA-NH Testimony on HB 1255: Teacher ‘Loyalty’ Bill

Megan Tuttle, NEA-NH President, provided testimony in opposition of HB 1255 on January 20, 2022. Here is the transcript of her submitted remarks: Dear Chairman Ladd and honorable members of the House Education Committee, My name is Megan Tuttle, President of NEA-NH, where we represent over 17,000 public school educators across our state. I am here on behalf of NEA-NH to strongly object to the passage of HB 1255, which we see as a doubling down on the banned concepts law enacted in HB 2, a law already subject to 2 federal lawsuits because of the chilling effect it has […]

NEA-NH Testimony on HB 1015

Megan Tuttle, NEA-NH President, provided testimony in opposition of HB 1015 on January 20, 2022. Here is the transcript of her submitted remarks: Good morning. My name is Megan Tuttle and I represent more than 17,000 professional educators in the state as President of NEA-New Hampshire. After reading HB 1015, and other bills put forward this session regarding public education, I am left wondering “Who would want to be a teacher right now? Have you seen how professional educators are being treated?” I’ll not spend time today trying to understand the motivation behind this bill, but I will call your […]