Legislative Update Report

2/14/25: NEA-NH Legislative Update

This Week: Big Wins for Public Education and Labor  HB 283 – Anti-Public Education Bill Rejected by House Education Committee  The House Education Policy and Administration Committee voted unanimously to kill HB 283, the legislation that would have gutted crucial areas of content as part of the definition of an adequate education. An unprecedented 30,000 people signed in or wrote in to oppose this bill and dozens more came to testify in person against it. This sent a loud and strong message to extreme politicians that New Hampshire values public education. The bill will next go to the full House […]

2/7/25: NEA-NH Legislative Update

Next Week: Gutting Content of an Adequate Education, Second Universal Voucher Bill, and Major Votes on Bills Attacking Unions  What a week it’s going to be next week. It’s representative of some of the major attacks we face this year at the state level, all taking place in just a few days – and of course with the backdrop of unprecedented attacks on public education coming from Washington, D.C. Here are the TOP 3 Actions you can take to advocate for your students at the state level ahead of next week – it should take less than 10 minutes total!  HB […]

1/31/25: NEA-NH Legislative Update

Re-Cap of this Week: Important Follow-Up Actions!  This past week was a full docket of bills that affected educators’ collective bargaining rights and the climate for them and their students in schools. Since some of this legislation is so highly impactful, we want to emphasize the importance of following up with the committees they were heard.   HB 735 – Extreme Legislators Trying to Attack Your Local Union  HB 735 would force a re-certification vote just to maintain your local union if the original employees who formed the union no longer make up a majority of the unit. This is one […]

1/24/25: NEA-NH Legislative Update

This Week’s Re-Cap and What You Can Do Next: Action Links and Book Events!  Thank you to all those who sent in testimony this week on several extremely important bills! We had hearings for bills related to school funding, expanding the code of conduct to include responsibility to parents, creating a permanent part-time unlicensed teacher status, our first bill restricting cell phone use, and anti-union legislation.  With every bill we had great huge numbers of NEA-NH members signing in and writing incredible testimony that only educators can deliver!  None of these bills have been voted on in committee but could […]

January 29: Meet Josh Cowen, Author of The Privateers, for a Community Conversation on Vouchers

In The Privateers, Josh Cowen lays bare the surprising history of tax-funded school choice programs in the United States and warns of the dangers of education privatization. A former evaluator of state and local voucher programs, Cowen demonstrates how, as such programs have expanded in the United States, so too has the evidence-informed case against them.  As state lawmakers consider yet another effort to expand an unaccountable voucher scheme, we are thrilled to host two events with Josh Cowen and hope you will join us! Can’t make the event but want to take action? Click here to urge your state lawmakers […]

1/17/25: NEA-NH Legislative Update

Broad Array of People Testify Against Universal Voucher Bill!   One of the biggest bills of the year had its public hearing this week in the House Education Funding Committee. HB 115 would expand our unaccountable voucher program by eliminating the income qualifying cap entirely. Thank you to everyone who signed in, wrote in or testified in-person against this bill! Overall, there were more than 3,400 people who signed in against the bill compared to only 791 who signed in support. A broad array of people came out in opposition including several NEA-NH members, people who went to or sent their […]