Reprinted from School Choice for NH with permission.
There are a few bills this session that may be of interest to New Hampshire homeschoolers. We are tracking some of them, but want the community to be aware of the others. Thankfully there are no bills directly regarding home education this year.
There are at least two bills filed against the tax-credit scholarship program. We are following them closely and will report when hearings are scheduled. Many homeschoolers are recipients of the scholarship fund.
Although not directly a home education bill, many families have expressed interest in drivers education legislation over the years. HB 172 (2019) has a public hearing in the House Transportation Committee on Tuesday, January 15th, starting at 10:00am. The committee is located in room 203 of the Legislative Office Building. This bill seeks to remove the driver education requirement if parents or guardians provide the equivalent of the classroom instruction and behind the wheel training. Expect the driver education lobbyists to oppose this bill, as they have for similar bills in the past. The common arguments by opponents are identical to those against homeschooling – students won’t respect parents, parents don’t know how to teach the subject, how do we know students are learning, etc. If families are interested in the bill, we recommend attending the public hearing and providing testimony, in person or via email, to the committee as soon as possible. The committee may vote on the bill anytime after the public hearing.
