Legislative Update

New Hampshire Legislative Session Starts with Attacks on Public Education

The New Hampshire Legislature began its 2024 session this week. The House met for two days to act on bills from the 2023 session. The Senate dealt with leftover bills on Wednesday, and conducted its first public hearings of 2024, including ones on important bills impacting public education and NEA-NH members. Thank you to all the members who signed in against the bills that had hearings this week that seek to resurrect last year’s parental rights legislation and expand private school vouchers.   Click here to view our full legislative tracker to see all the bills we are following this session. […]

A photo of the New Hampshire State House dome.

First Week of 2024 Session Starts with Action on Retained Bills and Hearings on Extreme Voucher Expansion Bills and “Parental Bill of Rights”

This is the first week of the 2024 Legislative Session. The state Senate is in session on January 3 and the House of Representatives is in session on January 3 and 4.   Let’s start with a state legislature primer/refresh. In New Hampshire, all bills eventually get a floor vote in their respective chamber. First up this week, the House and Senate will act on all bills that were held in committees from last year (retained bills). Each bill has a recommendation from the committee it was heard in. Committee recommendations include Ought to Pass (OTP), Ought to Pass with […]

2024 – Legislative Preview and Upcoming Priorities 

The upcoming 2024 Legislative Session will once again put education in the spotlight. Of the nearly 1,000 bills that were filed for the upcoming session, there are well over 100 that deal directly with public education, and even more that impact public school educators and students in some form or fashion.  

A photo of the New Hampshire State House dome.

NEA-NH Responds to School Funding Related Rulings

CONCORD, NH – Today, the State of New Hampshire Superior Court issued decisions on the education adequacy aid and the SWEPT tax cases. Megan Tuttle, president of NEA-New Hampshire, provided this statement in response:“Today’s rulings confirm what we have known all along – the state of New Hampshire has failed to adequately fund public education, instead downshifting costs to local communities. While we are encouraged by this recognition of the current inadequate funding scheme, we know this is just one more step in the long process of truly adequately funding public education in our state to ensure all students have […]

NEA-NH Opposes Bill Giving Ed Commissioner Subpoena Power

NEA-NH President Megan Tuttle testified in opposition to the non-germane amendment to HB 533 that would grant subpoena power to the NH DOE in Code of Conduct cases. “To begin with, we are not aware of any material that the DOE has asked for in the course of an official investigation under the Code of Conduct that they have not received so in asking for this added power it is important for them to concretely articulate why it is they need this new ability,” said Tuttle in her testimony. “The legislature should be cautious on why agencies beyond law enforcement […]

NEA-NH: Treat Educators Like the Professionals They Are and Let Them Teach

NEA-NH testifies in opposition to HB 309 NEA-NH provided written testimony to the House Education Committee today in opposition of HB 309 asking the question why this legislation would be necessary to enact into law. In 2021, the legislature reaffirmed the policy and purpose statement of RSA 193-E:1, II, that it is the state that “establishes minimum standards for public school approval and academic standards for inclusion and delivery of educational services at the local level.” But it is the school districts that “then have responsibility and flexibility in implementing diverse educational approaches to instruction and curriculum tailored to meet […]