There are 3 bills highlighted this week, all related to public education. Use the Senate Remote Sign In Tool to voice your support/opposition. Below are details and steps to have your voice heard. 


SUPPORT HB1583-FN-A, relative to the per pupil cost of an opportunity for an adequate education.  

• This bill increases the base annual cost of providing an opportunity for an adequate education.

• HB1583 would add over $60 million in aid to those school districts that have low property values and high numbers of free & reduced lunch eligible students. It would increase the base adequacy from $4,100 to $4,404 for every student in the state. Funding would be ongoing, paid for by surplus money in the Education Trust Fund.

• Although this would not solve the entire issue of inadequate school funding in NH, it is a step in the right direction that would provide some immediate relief to school districts across the state. In November 2023, in a pair of rulings on two separate lawsuits, Judge David Ruoff of Rockingham County Superior Court found the state is not meeting its obligations to provide students an “adequate” education. Ruoff ruled that the state should send no less than $7,356.01 for each student in order to meet its adequacy requirements. Read more here.

• Use this interactive map to see how much additional funding the Legislative Budget Assistant estimates this bill will send to your community.

• HB1583 has had strong bipartisan support every step of the way, receiving a 16-4 vote in House Education and an 18-7 vote in House Finance.  

ACT BY TUESDAY EVENING
1. Sign into the Senate Remote Sign In Tool to voice your support.
2. Select:

• Tuesday, April 30th on the calendar

• Senate Finance

• 2:00 p.m. - HB1583

• I am a member of the public.

• I am representing myself

3. Click: "I support this bill", then hit the submit button at the bottom of the form. 
4. Enter your personal information.

Email the Senate Finance committee members: Support HB1583 by also emailing the committee here. This is a handy form that will generate an email to all committee members. Consider modifying the boilerplate language and use your own words to make your email stand out and be more impactful.
 
OPPOSE HB1205, relative to women’s school sports. This bill requires schools to designate athletics by sex and prohibits biological males from participating in female athletics.  

• HB1205 would ban transgender girls from playing sports at the middle school and high school levels.

• It is unclear how these bills would be enforced, which could lead to intrusive and damaging inquisitions on any student-athlete.

• Sports and athletics are an important part of childhood, offering opportunities to build a sense of belonging and learn important life skills like teamwork, leadership, confidence, and self-discipline. No child should be denied the opportunity to participate in sports simply because of their gender identity. The overwhelming majority of transgender youth, like most kids, don't play at elite levels; they just want to participate with their peers.

• Transgender youth in New Hampshire often experience very real challenges - mistreatment in schools, family rejection, threats of physical violence, and over 30 legislative attempts to hinder their existence this session alone. Banning them from the sports they love adds an unnecessary challenge that can cause serious harm to mental health.

• According to the Rainbow Project, a non-profit that offers crisis response and counseling to at-risk LGBTQ youth, the top reason cited by callers in 2023 was anti-LGBTQ political rhetoric, such as debate over laws and policies just like this that limit rights at schools. Simply put - this legislative attack is hurting the mental health of kids.

ACT BY TUESDAY
1. Sign into the Senate Remote Sign In Tool to voice your opposition.
2. Select:

• Tuesday, April 30th on the calendar

• Senate Education

• 9:00 a.m. - HB1205

• I am a member of the public.

• I am representing myself.

3. Click: "I oppose this bill", then hit the submit button at the bottom of the form.
4. Enter your personal information.

Email the Senate Education committee members: Oppose HB1205 by also emailing the committee here. This is a handy form that will generate an email to all committee members. Consider modifying the boilerplate language and use your own words to make your email stand out and be more impactful.
 
SUPPORT HB1311, relative to school district collection development and reconsideration policies. This bill requires school boards to adopt policies governing library media collections and the reconsideration of library materials.

House Democrats' support statement: This bill, the Students’ Freedom to Read bill, requires school boards to adopt policies governing library media collections and the reconsideration of library materials. The bill requires schools to have a collection development policy and a reconsideration policy to address parent and guardian requests to remove library materials developed by the locally elected school board. Many school districts already have policies and procedures in place. This bill was developed in collaboration with diverse education stakeholder groups including the NH School Library Media Association. Transparent processes for addressing and resolving requests to remove materials meet the needs of concerned parents and guardians. Nationally, more than half of the materials that were targeted for removal in 2023 were by and about people of color, Indigenous people, and LBGBTQ+ individuals. Students, regardless of their gender identity, race, sexual orientation, or ability have the right to see themselves represented in their school libraries. The bill offers a balanced approach that respects the rights of educators, students, and parents. The bill requires that policies must be in substantial compliance with New Hampshire’s public education nondiscrimination laws which ensure that schools do not simply remove materials based on an author or subject’s identity within these protected classes. Based on the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Pico case school boards may not remove books that “prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion or other matters of opinion.” This Students’ Freedom to Read bill is common sense, bipartisan legislation which helps us prevent discrimination, preserves local control, and guarantees concerned parents and guardians due process. - Rep. Linda Tanner (D-Georges Mills)

ACT BY TUESDAY
1. Sign into the Senate Remote Sign In Tool to voice your support.
2. Select:

• Tuesday, April 30th on the calendar

• Senate Education

• 9:20 a.m. - HB1311

• I am a member of the public.

• I am representing myself

3. Click: "I support this bill", then hit the submit button at the bottom of the form. 
4. Enter your personal information.
 
Extra Credit ACT BY WEDNESDAY:

Email or call all your State Representatives and ask them to OPPOSE SB341. You may look up contact information for your State Representatives here. 

OPPOSE SB341, relative to mandatory disclosure by school district employees to parents. This bill requires all school employees to respond honestly and completely to written requests by parents regarding information relating to their children.

House Democrats' opposition statement: On the surface, this bill proposes what we all would like – for school districts and parents to collaborate and share on behalf of students’ well-being. Schools want to and regularly do engage with parents while respecting students’ constitutional right to privacy and maintaining their safety. If we lived in a world where all people were safe and respected for being their authentic selves, there would be no concerns with this bill. We don’t live in that world! Instead, the reality is that this harmful bill would endanger all vulnerable youth, especially LGBTQ. It will cause forced outing of students who are not yet ready to share with parents while putting teachers in the untenable position of risking harm to students and losing their license for a perceived infraction of an unclear law. Schools need to be safe places for all children to learn and develop healthy autonomy. Teens explore their identity in many ways, whether it be their religious beliefs and practices, political views, sexuality, education or career choices. Concerns of abuse, including emotional abuse, and neglect relate to a wide variety of scenarios. Students learn best when they feel safe and comfortable. When students have the opportunity to talk with a trusted adult, and to sort out how to approach parents, there is less risk of emotional harm, less bullying, less substance abuse, less depression, less dropouts, less suicides. Why would we compromise all that benefit? Making schools a space where teens and young adults are forced to look over their shoulders will create seriously adverse outcomes for students. The committee heard extensive testimony opposing this bill. The NH Department of Education said the “complete and honest” standard is unclear, subjective, and would be difficult to enforce. How does a teacher determine there is risk of imminent harm? The language of the bill does not mandate that a teacher be told something directly from the student – so they would be responsible for reporting hearsay or drawing conclusions from casual observations. How does a teacher keep track of all the conversations and still find the opportunity to actually teach? Teachers are already mandatory reporters. The bill says a teacher can report to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) instead of telling parents if there is fear of harm – but DHHS cannot and will not act in response to potential abuse. The Office of the Child Advocate stated that the bill “threatens the health, safety and intrinsic rights of Granite State LGBTQ+ residents, their families and our communities at large.” A letter from NH Businesses for Social Responsibility signed by 175 NH businesses opposes this bill because it creates an unwelcome environment for businesses to work in NH, makes employee recruitment harder and tarnishes our state’s reputation for treating each other with respect. New Futures, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Seacoast Outright, many mental health clinicians, American Federation of Teachers (AFT), National Education Association (NEA), and GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) all oppose this unnecessary legislation. We must prioritize fairness and freedom for all Granite Staters and find this bill Inexpedient to Legislate. - Rep. Hope Damon (D-Croydon)
 

Action alert shared courtesy of the
Hillsborough County NH Democratic Committee, 2024