Legislative Update Report

Legislative Update: Budget, budget, budget

State Budget Heads to the House Floor – Tell Your Rep. Don’t Support a Budget that Attacks Public Education! The budget proposal being sponsored by House Republicans has a lot of problems in it for public education and will have a vote on the floor on Thursday April 6th. This budget contains a massive expansion of the school voucher program that will grow the program exponentially (we believe much more than the estimates that the Department of Education provided to the budget writers). The proposal goes far beyond what even the Governor suggested in his budget because several provisions have […]

House Version of So-Called “Parental Bill of Rights” Fails

Week’s Recap – March 25, 2023 In a marathon 2-Day Session HB 10, the first of the so-called “Parental Bill of Rights” went down in the House. We successfully defeated the committee amendment for HB 10 by 4 votes and then the motion to pass the original legislation by 6 votes (189-195). This was accomplished with 191 Democrats and 4 Republicans. The bill was then tabled by just 1 vote before a vote to kill the bill could be executed. So, that meant keeping our Republicans who voted against the bill from wavering and our Democratic attendance up for the […]

Legislative Update: Stop Unlimited Vouchers in NH

This week the House will have well over 100 bills up for a vote as they meet on Wednesday and Thursday this coming week in order to meet their deadlines to act on certain legislation. Important Action Items for this Week Stop Unlimited Vouchers (Including for Millionaires!) Two bills going to the floor this week with no recommendation would expand the school voucher program, exponentially diverting money away from public schools. ACTION REQUESTED: Contact your State Representative(s) and ask that they vote AGAINST HB 331 and HB 538 by going to our Legislative Action Page. Both programs would blow the […]

Actions for this Week – Stop Book Bans by the Legislature

HB 514 is proposing to do away with the due process afforded by our courts for K-12 school employees and instead, make a court where politicians like Rep. Glenn Cordelli and Commissioner Edelblut or the State Board of Education will make unilateral determinations using a subjective standard as to what is considered “obscene” material. This is the NH version of an attempt at a book ban. No one is exempt or should be exempt from obscenity laws as proponents of this bill claims. Instead of supporting parents and teachers working together, this bill is another prosecutorial power grab by the […]

Legislative Update – February 18, 2023

Major Action Items for Next Week – Oppose More Voucher Expansion (Including Local District Vouchers are Back!) Action Items For Next Week! HB 331 would blow open the doors on the school voucher program by eliminating any income criteria to qualify for the program.Currently, to enter into the school voucher program, a household income must be at or below 300% of the Federal Poverty Level, or around $83k for a family of four in 2023. Under these current guidelines, the program has already exceeded spending by 500%. More than three quarters of the participants in the program now had already […]

NEA-NH Testifies in Support of SB 217

SB 217 bill could mean up to $12,000 over a 4-year period for early educators who are trying to grapple with paying off loans NEA-NH President Megan Tuttle, along with NEA-NH Government Relations Direction Brian Hawkins, provided testimony, maps, and data in support of SB 217, a bill that will help rural areas or those that face economic disadvantages mitigate some of the strain of recruiting and retaining educators. “We have a tremendous workforce shortage in our K-12 schools,” said Tuttle. “This shortage existed before the pandemic and has been exacerbated by it. Now is the time for New Hampshire […]