By ANDRU VOLINSKY
Radical Republicans try to crush public education in three bills.
Radical NH Republicans are trying to crush public education, the foundation of our democracy. Their approach is to attack education from all sides banning books and curriculum, challenging staffing, and undermining funding.
I imagine the twisted minds in the NH Libertarian and Republican Caucus think I am having conversations like below with my three grandchildren, ages 3-8.
Me: Thanks for coming over the river and through the woods to visit Grammy and me.
Middle Grandchild: No problem Popsey. Can we talk about Critical Race Theory?
Eldest Grandchild: Come on, Pops. He always wants to talk about Critical Race Theory. He has a crush on his kindergarten teacher who brings it up everyday in class. Can’t we talk about Critical Legal Theory? Puleeze!
Youngest Grandchild: Why do the boys have all the fun? We’re learning about gender normative studies in daycare. Can’t we talk about that?
Me: Hush children. Have you finished your illustrated Das Kapital? If you get your reading done, your Auntie Pho will read to you from Mother Jones when you go to bed tonight.
The CHARLIE Act.
CHARLIE is a reference to the slain radical right-winger, Charlie Kirk. HB 1792 makes clear that it is also an acronym.
Wait for it.
CHARLIE stands for the “Countering Hate and Revolutionary Leftist Indoctrination in Education” Act.
You almost don’t need to know more about the bill. The bill prohibits the teaching of certain subjects in public schools and bans books that concern those subjects.
Worse, the CHARLIE Act creates a right for any student, parent or school employee to sue for an injunction, money damages and attorney fees. Money damages may be awarded up to $10,000 per violation. There is no cap on legal fees.
You, as the taxpayer, will pay for these damages, defense costs, and the cost of substitute teachers who cover for offending teachers when they are dragged to court. Teachers are also subject to professional misconduct charges for teaching banned subjects, a practice started by former Commissioner Frank Edelblut.
Here are the sponsors of this hateful effort: Reps. Belcher (R-Wakefield), Noble (R-Bedford), Osborne (R-Auburn), Corcoran (R-Weare), and Sabourin dit Choiniere (R-Seabrook). Rep. Kristin Noble, by the way, chairs the NH House Education Policy Committee. She also recently advocated for a return to segregated schools.
Rep. Sam Farrington (R-Rochester), the rep who wants guns on the UNH campus, testified in favor of the bill arguing it “didn’t go far enough.”
HB 1704 destroys collective bargaining but only for educators.
In a different kind of challenge to public ed, HB 1704 seeks to “allow” individual teachers to independently bargain for their wages and conditions of employment outside of well-established public bargaining processes. The bill exempts virtually all other public employees including police, fire and correctional officers from the freedom to bargain independently. Only school employees are given this “freedom.”
Imagine the chaos… and the opportunities for favoritism…and the increased administrative burden.
A similar cast of characters sponsor this bill. They are Rep. Labrie (R-Bedford), 2; Rep. Drago (R-Raymond), 4; Rep. Drew (R-Manchester 10), Rep. Farrington, (R- Rochester), Rep. Granger (R-Milton/Rochester), Rep. Morton (R-Manchester 6,8,9), Rep. Osborne (R-Candia) 2; Rep. Schneller (R-Bedford), Rep. Berry (R-Goffstown/Weare), Rep. Noble (R-Bedford).
Three reps sponsoring this bill are from Bedford.
Bedford, a non-diverse, wealthy suburb adjacent to Manchester is recognized as a very competent school district with per pupil costs $2000 per pupil less than the state’s average and teacher salaries $3000 above the state’s average. Why would Bedford’s three reps want to mess with success in the Bedford School District?
I hope the strong firefighters, police and correctional unions stand by the NEA and AFT teachers unions fighting off this effort to cancel them.
Open Enrollment-HB 751
“Open Enrollment” is a process by which a predator school district poaches good students from a poor district and then sends a bill to the poor district to pay their tuition. The poor district has no say in the matter and cannot plan for the transfer.
Troublesome kids or kids that qualify for special ed need not apply. The NH Supreme Court has approved of this “student-grab.” It is already in statute for school districts who have failed to opt out. Put aside the statute doesn’t require an opt out, but that’s our Supreme Court for you. Many school districts have opt-out warrant articles planned for adoption during this Spring’s school district meetings.
The current bill was crammed through the NH Senate on a sleazy fast track that prevented any public vetting of the bill. The universal Open Enrollment language was added to a non-germane bill regarding outpatient substance abuse licensing that had already been vetted. If the House concurs, there will be no public hearings about the bill in either body.
HB 751 requires all districts to participate in Open Enrollment and allows all predator districts free sway to poach from every district in the state. All this Open Enrollment business is courtesy of the Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
I’ve written before on this topic. For that post, go here. For Steve Snelling’s post, go here.
Bonus Hypocrisy: CACR 28-Making NH a Christian Theocracy
The NH Constitution extols the virtues of morality and piety but NH’s Bill of Rights clearly separates public from religious schools. Pt. 1, Art. 6. Republicans have proposed a constitutional amendment that destroys this wall of separation.
Rep. Peter Petrigno (D-Milford) describes CACR 28 as “transform[ing] New Hampshire into an evangelical Christian theocracy. The bill, CACR 28 calls for ‘the support and maintenance of public protestant teachers of piety, religion and morality.’” Peter thinks the constitutional amendment won’t pass in the legislature. If it does, a two-thirds public vote is required to amend the constitution.
The sponsors of CACR 28 are: Rep. Soti (R-Londonderry/Windham) 35; Rep. Sabourin dit Choiniere (R-Seabrook), Rep. Sellers (R-Bridgewater/Bristol), and Rep. Potenza (R-Rochester 1,2,3,4, and 6).
Lost on the sponsors of CACR 28 is the irony that many of them are also sponsoring HR 34 challenging Sharia Law in the US because it violates the federal constitution’s separation of church and state.
House Resolution 34 bans the use of Sharia Law in America based in part on the sponsors’ concern that informal Sharia tribunals exist in the blue states of Minnesota, NY and California in the context of divorce and family disputes. Funny how none of these fellows are bothered by similar voluntary religious panels maintained by Orthodox Jews that can issue a man, but not a woman, a “get” (divorce) or the Roman Catholic faith’s use of a “declaration of nullity”to end a marriage. I am sure other religions operate similarly for the devoutly religious. Obviously, I am not defending religious practices that discriminate against women. Just pointing out the exclusively anti-Muslim focus of the Resolution. The chair of the committee that conducted a hearing on this abominable resolution is also a co-sponsor. His name is Michael Moffett (R-Loudon/Canterbury).
A final word: The Death Penalty
Your hard work paid off. The NH House Criminal Justice Committee unanimously voted to recommend the House kill all of the bills to reinstate the death penalty. Republican Committee Chair Terry Roy (R-Deering) said, “In my mind, in the state of this county, I don’t think we want to empower our government with the ability to kill its own citizens.” No word from Governor Ayotte who supports the reinstatement of capital punishment. The multiple death penalty bills are now subject to a vote by the full chamber with a recommendation of “Inexpedient to Legislate.”
You can read Andru Volinsky’s Substack here