Legislative Update

PRESS RELEASE: Ayotte Budget Proposal Takes Important Step to Close Special Education Funding Gap but Diverts More Public Dollars from Public Schools to Subsidize Private Education 

CONCORD, NH – Today, Governor Kelly Ayotte delivered her first budget proposal to state lawmakers as the Senate confirmation hearing began for Education Secretary Nominee Linda McMahon in Washington, D.C. In her address, Governor Ayotte stated: “We understand the skyrocketing costs facing towns in providing special education and we want to lessen that burden. We are making education freedom available to all public school students.” Moments later, McMahon went on record to say private schools funded by taxpayer vouchers do and should have the right to turn children away if those children don’t those the private schools’ needs.  Megan Tuttle, […]

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 […]