Latest news with #Cordelli
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Home educators fight to keep advisory council
Home educators defend survival of advisory council Jennifer Wright, center inset and a home educator, spoke Tuesday against the idea of getting rid of the Home Education Advisory Council. Many home education advocates turned out Tuesday to oppose what one called an 'ambush' amendment to eliminate the 14-member Home Education Advisory Council (HEAC). 'You want home educators to get on board, sit down and shut up,' said Katherine Abbott of Portsmouth in defending the council's work. Rep. Glenn Cordelli, R-Tuftonboro, argued that after 35 years of advocacy, leaders have gotten sidetracked, and the group has become dysfunctional. Several HEAC members have become critical of Education Freedom Accounts (EFAs), taxpayer-subsidized scholarships for parents to send their children to private, religious, alternative public or home school programs, he said. 'HEAC has lost its way and deviated from its role per law and rule and is not adhering to its responsibility to provide support to home educators,' Cordelli said. Cordelli proposed his amendment to an unrelated bill (HB 57) to study whether the state should reduce the number of supervisory administrative units (SAUs) in New Hampshire. Several members of the HEAC said the creation of EFAs in 2021 has threatened to dilute the independent nature of home education by having families accept public funding. Many home educators believe accepting EFA money gives the state more control over their instruction. Amanda Weeden with Granite State Home Educators said the council since September has raised issues with Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut about the freedom of their movement. 'The optics of this non-germane amendment being snuck in, it is an ambush,' said Weeden. 'The (EFA) school choice movement is late to the party. We are the original school choicers.' Group began as a way to advise DOE on the topic The Legislature created HEAC in 1990 as a forum to give advice to the education commissioner on home education. 'Without this council, this valuable line of communication would be lost,' said Jennifer Pereira, who served on the council for eight years. Dianne Nolin, a member of HEAC, noted Gov. Kelly Ayotte has already announced that she will name a new education commissioner at the end of this school year when Edelblut will move on after eight years on the job. 'Through periods of change we need the experience of those who do the work every day,' Nolin said. Several opponents of Cordelli's idea called on the Legislature to get rid of agency rules that along with state law govern home education practices. 'This is an important liaison for us,' said Jennifer Wright, a home educating mom. 'Are there things that could be fixed? Absolutely. This has been going on since I was born. I think eliminating it would be really short-sighted.' Cordelli had said other advocacy groups such as the New Hampshire Home Educators Association founded in 1983 could take the place of HEAC and be more focused on the mission. But after nearly every speaker opposed Cordelli's idea, Cordelli told the House Education Policy and Administration Committee he chairs that he would drop the idea, meet with advocates and perhaps pursue cooperative legislation in the future. 'We can give HEAC a little more time,' Cordelli summed up. 'I am hopeful that the tone of discussion between traditional home educators and EFA families who are primarily home schooling will improve, that the rhetoric calms down.' What's Next: The full House early next month will vote on the SAU study bill without the home education issue in it. Prospects: Lawmakers never run short of ideas for study committees and this one too is likely to make it to the finish line. klandrigan@
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Poll: Most in N.H. oppose prosecuting over controversial school materials
A University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll done by a national political action committee for libraries and MomsRising Together found most Granite State residents opposed a pending bill to make educators subject to criminal prosecution under state obscenity laws. The same poll found strong support (59% for, 19% opposed) for disciplining teachers who 'knowingly' provided harmful materials to students and for having a complaint process (66% for, 29% opposed) for parents to object to their children having access to specific books or materials. John Chrastka is executive director of EveryLibrary, which partnered in the poll. "The poll numbers are clear. New Hampshire voters do not want to see a bill that would criminalize educators, school boards, and school librarians as education policy,' Chrastka said. 'Voters don't like Concord telling local schools what students can read and how parents can parent. States like Indiana and Oklahoma have put criminalization provisions in place, and it's not building better schools there.' The Senate Education Committee will hold likely the last public hearing for the House-approved bill (HB 324) this Thursday. Along partisan lines, the House late last month approved the bill, 193-148, with only three Republicans joining all but one Democrat in opposition. Rep. Glenn Cordelli, R-Tuftonboro, said he worked with Attorney General John Formella's office on how to close a loophole since education was exempt from the state's obscenity laws. 'It is our duty to protect minor children,' said Cordelli, who chairs the new House Education Policy and Administration Committee. 'This bill is about materials that are harmful to minor children in schools and the ability for parents to object to them.' During its first public hearing last February signed up in support while 1,355 opposed it. 'Our attorney general feels that it would be only the most extreme case for a criminal case to be opened for K-12 education, but that option should be available in such a case,' Cordelli said in written testimony to the House. Poll details The total of 1,372 completed the survey for UNH along with 62 respondents who were recruited via text message from March 20-24. The margin of error for the poll was plus or minus 2.6%. On criminal prosecution, 36% said they could oppose that provision, 52% opposed it, 7% were neutral and 5% didn't have an answer. Politically, certain circles support giving parents more of a say in what their children are exposed to in public schools. Last December, outgoing Gov. Chris Sununu had to withdraw his pick to fill the vacant post of state librarian because the candidate, Assistant Librarian Mindy Atwood, had spoken at conferences about how library advocates should work to defeat proposed book bans. A clear majority on the GOP-led Executive Council told Sununu his pick of Atwood was dead on arrival for this reason. During House debate, Rep. Peggy Balboni, D-Nashua, pointed out state law already allows parents to review all instructional materials. "But while parents can decide what materials their child can access, they do not have the right to determine which materials are available for other students; that is censorship," Balboni said. MacKenzie Nicholson is senior director for MomsRising Together & MomsRising Education Fund. 'Parents in the Granite State aren't asking for this. HB 324 is an extreme bill that goes too far and opens the door to criminalizing teachers and school librarians for doing their jobs,' Nicholson said. 'The Senate should table this bill and come back to the issue with a more thoughtful, balanced approach that actually reflects the values of families in the Live Free or Die state.' Asked how such a law would affect teacher recruitment, 55% told the poll this would make it harder, 9% said it would be easier, 29% said this will have little effect and 7% don't know. The poll also found if Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed the bill, a moderate plurality (41%) said they would be less likely to vote for her in 2026 compared with those who said it would make them more likely (30%) to support her. The third-largest group (24%) said it would make little or no difference and 5% did not know. klandrigan@
