By GARRY RAYNO
And PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD — After a nearly one-hour debate, the Senate Thursday voted along party lines to approve a bill that sets up the process to ban books and other “inappropriate materials” from public schools.
House Bill 324 would allow anyone to file a complaint about books or materials in public schools if they believe they are obscene, harmful or inappropriate for the grade level.
The complaint would begin a process that could end with removing the material from the schools and/or taking educators and school board members to court.
Supporters of the bill said it was not book banning or burning, but a way for their constituents to become part of the process of determining what is appropriate for the education of their child.
Sen. Victoria Sullivan, R-Manchester, asked why the Senate has repeatedly debated bills about parental rights and child protection.
“Children belong to their family, they do not belong to the school district,” she said. “Until recently, parents were the third leg of (the education stool), but they have been left out of the conversation.”
Opponents said the bill would hurt public education, usurp local control from school boards and deny students’ rights to access comprehensive materials free from censorship.
They said the bill as written could prohibit the teaching of Shakespeare, the Bible or other literary classics because one parent objects.
There is a great divergence in what you trust a parent to decide what his or her child can read or access materials, said Sen. David Watters, D-Dover.
“The problem with this bill is one parent with a complaint and with the force of law behind them,” Watters said, “lets them make that decision for all parents.”
He gave a lengthy history on how book banning and book burning came about dating back to the 1500s and Quaker women distributing books up to more recent times and novels by Judy Blume and Jodi Picoult.
“The damage that does to freedom and the threat to young people’s imaginations and their bodies,” he said, “suggests the puritanical regime has not ended.”
Sen. Debra Altschiller, D-Stratham, called the bill incredibly unpopular, anti-liberty and said it would hurt education.
She said a poll in March found that two-thirds of those contacted opposed the bill and did not want to see a state-imposed process to determine reading material in grades kindergarten to 12th grade and did not support prosecuting educators or schools, as this bill would do.
Altschiller said 66 percent want to see the decisions made locally and not let a small minority make that determination.
“This will have a chilling effect,” she said, “and would open the door to viewpoint discrimination.”
The bill would lead to the domino effect and books would come off the shelves pretty quickly, Altschiller said.
The majority of book censorship originates from movements, not individuals, she said, and 72 percent originate with advocacy groups and politicians.
Altschiller urged her colleagues to listen to their constituents and kill the bill.
Sen. Daryl Abbas, R-Salem, said the bill has four standards that must be met before any book or material would be removed.
Abbas said simple nudity does not constitute lewd material and it would not mean banning Shakespeare or classic literature or fine art paintings.
He said they are talking about pornography and things that are not serious literature or art.
The process would go through the school principal to the school board who would make the decision, Abbas said.
“They can go to court,” he said, “if they don’t like that decision.”
The bill goes to the governor.
Code of Ethics
The Senate also sent to the governor House Bill 235 which would add that teachers have a responsibility to the parents of their students as well as the students to the educator’s codes of conduct and ethics.
Abbas said the codes already include parents and the bill would include that in statute.
But Altschiller said a teacher’s primary importances should be the students and now they want to make it the student and the parent.
What happens when parents do not act in the best interest of the student, or if there is a divorce with competing ideas about parenting, she asked.
She called the bill an unnecessary change that threatens to get in the way of a teacher’s primary responsibility, which is the student and their learning, their development and their well-being.
The bill passed on a voice vote.
EDUCATION BILLS
The Senate took up a number of other education related bills which some Democrats said were intended to eventually gut public schools, but Republicans said would improve the clarity and goals of the state to provide an education.
House Bill 394, which directs a cooperative school district budget committee to review and provide a recommendation on all proposed warrant articles or supplemental appropriations expending funds, was approved on a voice vote.
The bill also changes the school board appointed member on the cooperative school board budget committee to a non-voting ex-officio role.
Sullivan said it clarifies the rules and responsibilities of school district budget committees and provides a clearer understanding of responsibilities.
But Altschiller said the bill is “audacious and strips the voting rights away from an elected individual” and tramples First Amendment rights by barring those elected officials from speaking.
“You can’t even talk about it . . . you can’t even mention appropriations . . . the procedural gymnastics are Olympic qualifying,” Altschiller said.
She noted the prime sponsor didn’t show up to introduce the bill.
“So why are we passing legislation that adds more hoops for public schools to jump through? Why would we be considering this?” she asked.
One bill that was re-referred to committee was House Bill 676 which would establish a parent impact and satisfaction survey for those who receive Education Freedom Account funds.
Sen. Ruth Ward, R-Stoddard, said the bill should be re-referred as it needed more work.
House Bill 699, relative to special education definitions, passed on a vote of 15-8.
Sen. Sue Prentiss, D-Lebanon, rose in opposition to the motion of ought to pass, though she said the intent was good, it might be premature.
Her concern, she said, was not about the clarity it seeks, but the Legislative Budget Assistant’s performance audit on special education will be done at the end of the year. She said it was important to have that information before a vote.
“We may be two to three steps ahead,” she said.
Sullivan said it is her understanding from the LBA the upcoming audit would be consistent and not conflicting with their preliminary audit findings released last year.
House Bill 768, which would allow public schools to contract with any approved “non-public” school, was approved on a vote of 15-8.
Altschiller opposed it saying language matters and this is not a tweak, it changes the word from non-sectarian to non-public in the law.
This is yet another bill no one asked for and hundreds opposed, she said, which undermines what we really need, which is full funding of public education.
“House Bill 768 is another slash in death by a thousand cuts to kill public education,” she said.
Senate Majority Leader Regina Birdsell, R-Hampstead, said the change is simple and allows for nondiscrimination against religious schools and brings New Hampshire laws in line with the First Amendment of the Constitution.
The Senate also passed House Bill 557 which Sen. Dan Innis, R-Bradford, said would allow greater transparency with respect to school budgeting. He said it would provide details about per pupil costs and give voters information about student academic progression.
Sen. Cindy Rosenwald, D-Nashua, said much like other bills of the day it is inherently designed to make voters oppose school budgets.
The Senate also passed House Bill 718, which would require the State Board of Education to report unfunded financial impacts on school districts.
House Bill 771, which provides funds for open enrollment schools, passed along party lines.
Rosenwald opposed it saying it allows for “cherry picking.” There is one open enrollment school in the state, the Senate was told.