Legislative Update

NEA-NH Legislative Update 01.19.24 

Week of Consequential Votes and More Important Hearings Coming this Week  This week we had a number of important hearings and even floor votes on consequential bills surrounding the expansion of private school vouchers, a major book ban bill, and lowering standards for those who teach part-time. Please take a look at more detail on these and what comes next in the recap.  This week coming up we are following a lot of bills around private school vouchers, cooperative school district governance bills, labor law for minors, and special education. We’re highlighting a couple of hearings where it will be […]

A photo of the New Hampshire State House dome.
Signs held at the NH Legislative Office Building read "Right to Work" is WRONG for NH

Big Week Ahead: Vouchers, Book Bans, No-License Teachers, and One-Test Diplomas – Oh My!

It’s a huge week of public hearings next week in the New Hampshire House and Senate. Hearings will be held on several universal voucher expansion bills, a bill that would establish a non-credentialed “part-time” teacher to be able to teach in our public schools, a bill that would allow a student to only take a single test to graduate from high school, and one of the new versions of a book ban.   Get ready to take action now because we have a full docket of legislation that seeks to wage an assault on public education. It’s time to make your voice […]

HB 1419: Book Bans are Back!

ACTION REQUESTED: Please take the time to sign in against HB 1419. The public hearing is Thursday, January 18th at 9:30am in the House Education Committee. HB 1419 is just one of this year’s attempts at a book ban modeled after similar bills recently introduced in other state legislatures. Like others before it, the bill contains vague language left open to interpretation and once again contains violations of the Code of Conduct. The bill sets up a process to follow that ends with the state board of education and does not truly allow local school districts to develop their own […]

White poster board with text that reads: Support NH Educators, Students, Public Schools

HB 1402: Take a Test…And you Get a Diploma!

ACTION REQUESTED: Before the public hearing on January 16th at 10am, please urge the House Education Committee to reject HB 1402 so we can ensure students who hold a New Hampshire high school diploma have had the opportunity to master the competencies that will help them succeed. HB 1402 gives the Commissioner of Education the power to develop a high school proficiency exam and adopt his own rules and procedures for administering that exam. Passing this unnamed exam would also result in that student testing out of high school and receiving a “state” or local school district diploma and would […]

HB 1377: So-Called “Right to Work” Legislation is Still Wrong for NH

ACTION REQUESTED: Please sign in to OPPOSE HB 1377, which is being heard on Wednesday, January 10 at 3:00 pm in the House Labor Committee using the House online testimony submission tool. Speaking of re-run legislation, so-called “right to work” legislation is back again in the form of HB 1377 and will be heard this coming week in the House Labor committee. This anti-worker effort is still an attack on collective bargaining and an attempt to weaken unions. For decades NEA-NH has fought against this legislation because it is the centerpiece of an agenda to maximize corporate profits by passing […]

White poster board with text that reads: Support NH Educators, Students, Public Schools

OPPOSE HB 1206: New Version of “Teacher Loyalty Bill” – Now “Educator Indoctrination”

ACTION REQUESTED: Please sign in and/or submit written testimony to OPPOSE this bill being heard on Monday, January 8 at 2:30 pm in the House Education Committee. HB 1206 is a revamped version of a rejected bill two years ago called the “teacher loyalty” bill. It has a similar goal and approach to the banned concepts law: chill the delivery of an honest and accurate education by frightening educators with a vague law and harsh punishment.   HB 1206 states that “educators shall not present unproved theories as fact” and “an educator shall not push or assert, advocate for, or […]