CONCORD – Protesters sat quietly outside the New Hampshire Senate chamber Wednesday, reading books.
They were there to show their opposition to an amendment attached to House Bill 1311 that the bill’s sponsor, Rep. David Paige, D-Concord, said would make it a “book ban bill.”
As originally written, HB 1311, also known as the “Student Freedom to Read Act,” would have required school boards to adopt transparent and clear procedures for handling book removal requests, and that those policies not exclude books could exclude on the basis of an identity of the author or subject as a member of a protected class such as race or sexual orientation.
On the Senate floor, Sen. Timothy Lang, R-Sanbornton, introduced the amendment.
“As amended by the Senate Education Committee, House Bill 1311 provides a uniform collection review process for school libraries and media centers,” Lang said. “Materials shall not be prescribed or obtained primarily on the basis of the sex of the author, or the sex, age, gender identity, race, religion, national origin, orientation, or disability of the subject. Moreover, the purchase of the material cannot be based on a particular point of view.”
Paige said the changes by adding the word “primarily” and expanding the bill to include the purchase of materials would open the door for discriminatory reasons to be considered factors in the exclusion of the materials, as long as they are not the ” primary’ reason. and make it more difficult for educators to develop inclusive collections.
“Imagine you have an immigrant community coming to your city. What this bill, if passed as amended, will say is that you cannot choose to buy a book specifically because you want better representation of that new immigrant community in your town,” Paige said. “That does a disservice to every student, the immigrant student who is trying to see themselves reflected in the curriculum and the collection, but it also does a disservice to all the other students in the store who have to get to know their new neighbors.”
Deb Howes, the president of the American Federation of Teachers of New Hampshire, said the bill, as amended, would potentially set up two “conflicting and confusing” procedures for acquiring and reconsidering school library materials, potentially leading to a lawsuit.
The Senate voted in favor of the passed bill as amended with little discussion on the floor, although Sen. Rebecca Perkins Kwoka, D-Portsmouth, spoke in opposition. It was one of three education bills passed by the Senate on Wednesday that New Hampshire teachers unions opposed; the others include HB 1298, which creates a non-certified “part-time teacher” role in schools, and HB 1665, which expands eligibility for the Education Freedom Program.
Senate expands educational freedom account program
In one of the few roll call votes of the day, the Senate voted along party lines, 14-10, to expand the educational freedom program by increasing the applicant student’s annual household income to 400% of federal poverty guidelines.
The EFA program allows families to use some of the government funding that would go to their child’s public school toward private school or homeschool expenses.
“I believe parents deserve freedom of choice in education,” says Lang. “I’ve said it before, we’ve heard it before, I have four children, they all learn differently. They all deserve the best education possible.”
Lang added that changes in the federal poverty guidelines rate are also necessary for inflation.
“Can we just stop pretending that EFA was ever intended for low-income families,” said Sen. Debra Altschiller, D-Stratham, who spoke against the bill. “Let’s drop the pretense that the attempt to kill our public schools through a thousand cuts and taking more and more money from our Education Trust Fund to champion what essentially amounts to a second school system that we’re throwing money at throwing without absolutely no supervision.”
Both Howes and NEA-New Hampshire President Megan Tuttle released statements opposing the bill.
“Public dollars belong in public schools. Period,” Tuttle said. “Every vote to expand the state’s inexplicable voucher scheme – yet again – is a vote to divert even more taxpayer dollars from public schools, which are attended by more than 165,000 Granite State students.”
“The state of New Hampshire continues to fall short of its constitutional obligation to fully fund its public schools,” Howes said. “Remember, this is also the same Legislature that decided earlier this year that feeding hungry children in public schools, whose families earn up to 350% of the poverty level, was too expensive. The vote to expand school vouchers does not reflect the values of the Granite State and is not what voters want.”
Part-time teachers will not be required to be certified if the bill is signed into law
HB 1298 would end the requirement for part-time teachers to hold a state Board of Education credential, provided they work fewer than 30 hours per week, pass a criminal record check and follow the teacher code of conduct. It cleared the Senate on a voice vote.
Sen. Carrie Gendreau, R-Littleton, said the bill would reduce the teacher shortage and improve New Hampshire’s schools.
Sen. Sue Prentiss, D-West Lebanon, said that while she is not opposed to bringing a special educator from the community into schools, she sees the bill as creating a “secondary system that undermines the fundamental profession of teaching in the state of New Hampshire.”
Tuttle said teachers are professionals who have completed educational programs that allow them to serve their students effectively.
“Studies have shown that teacher quality is the most powerful indicator of student achievement within the school,” Tuttle wrote in a statement after the vote. “While New Hampshire grapples with a teacher shortage problem, this bill is misguided and will negatively impact Granite State students by lowering the standards for teachers in our public schools.”
Because all bills in the Senate have been amended, they go back to the House for a new vote.
Editor’s note: Sen. Debra Altschiller, D-Stratham, is the wife of Howard Altschiller, editor-in-chief of Seacoast Media Group.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: NH Senate Approves Bills to Allow Book Bans for Uncertified Teachers
