What the Heck New Hampshire?!

House Bill 283 (HB283) has been introduced in the New Hampshire House. This bill reduces the credits students need to graduate and get a high school diploma. Some of the things that would be eliminated from the requirements would be economics classes, civics and government classes, art and music classes, as well as financial literacy and holocaust & genocide education. The bill’s sponsor, Dan McGuire (R, Epsom) has a grand total of zero experience in the classroom or teaching kids in NH. Citizens Count reports that he is a retired computer engineer, and the closest he ever got to teaching was being an assistant professor at UC Santa Cruz. He doesn’t even have children. Surely, questions should be raised about his rationale for introducing this bill. 

As of right now, over 12,000 signatures in opposition to the bill have been signed. Teachers, administrators, parents, and students, have shown high amounts of opposition to HB283. This continues the concerning trend of New Hampshire failing to serve its students. New Hampshire continuously comes last in public school funding, and along with another House bill, HB115, would continue to divert public school funding to private school vouchers, which would cost NH taxpayers well over $100 million a year.

New Hampshire doesn’t even have a graduation issue. NH School Funding Fairness Project reports that the state average (all information is class of 2019, last time this was analyzed) was over 88%. Exeter High School was 95%. This put New Hampshire 13th on a countrywide scale. 

It comes down to money. Fewer requirements mean fewer kids taking classes, which means fewer teachers are needed! Hopefully, the widespread opposition will put an end to this nonsense.

Courtesy of Reaching Higher NH, an advocacy group, here is a graphic that shows what exactly will happen to some core class requirements.