Attention: Is Your School District Violating the Students First Act?
The Students First Act states that, seven days before the voters adopt a school budget, districts must post line graphs showing 10-year changes in their cost-per-pupil, average teacher pay, and administrator salaries. These graphs “must be posted in at least 3 appropriate places, 2 of which must be places of business or other public locations.” The third location can be a newspaper or the district website.
With budget votes approaching, some school districts in New Hampshire are violating the Students First Act.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
📝 Review the law here.
📩 Contact your school board and ask where the report is physically posted. The law requires the charts to be displayed in two physical public locations.
📈 Verify that your school is posting accurate graphs. Check for graphs that look like this example here.
👀 Some ways in which school districts are cheating and manipulating the data:
- Including only several years of data on the charts, rather than the required 10 years.
- Distorting the y-axis of their graphs to downplay the increase in administrator pay and per-pupil cost. Here are the y-axis requirements.
📣 Ideally, creating enough public attention about faulty charts will pressure school districts into complying with the law without anyone even needing to go into court.
⚖️ However, if you find that your school district is in violation of the law, you have the right to go into court and block your district’s upcoming budget vote until they comply with the law. Your attorney’s fees must be paid by the district if you prevail.
Help Protect Pregnancy Resource Centers in the Granite State
HB 1416, introduced by Rep. Sam Farrington, safeguards pregnancy resource centers by ensuring they can operate according to their mission without fear of government overreach. Under current law, these centers sometimes face regulations that could require them to provide or refer for services that conflict with their values or mission. HB 1416 would prohibit the state and municipalities from mandating that pregnancy resource centers perform abortions, provide contraception, or refer clients for such services.
Pregnancy resource centers serve individuals with compassion and support during challenging circumstances, offering education and material assistance. Allowing government entities to impose requirements that contradict those principles undermines their ability to serve their communities effectively and could deter them from offering the help that so many need.
New Hampshire has a strong tradition of valuing the ability of faith-based and community organizations to serve without unnecessary interference. By protecting pregnancy resource centers from regulations that could force them to act against their convictions, this legislation supports the meaningful work these centers do across the state.
🚨 NOTE: Opponents to HB 1416 state that killing the bill protects pregnancy resource centers, on the grounds that a “future majority” could later amend the statute and convert it into an enforcement tool against pregnancy resource centers. This argument amounts to nothing, since killing the legislation still leaves our pregnancy resource centers vulnerable to attacks like those in other states. Codifying protections now addresses current vulnerabilities rather than hypothetical future scenarios.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
📝 HB 1416 had an executive session in the Judiciary Committee yesterday, during which the bill was voted ITL (Inexpedient to Legislate).
🗓️ The bill will now go before the full House March 11 or 12.
❌ Please contact your representatives and ask them to vote NO on the motion of ITL on the House floor.
✅ Ask your representatives to vote YES on an OTP or OTPA motion, should the ITL motion fail.
👤 You can find your representatives here.
Ask The House to Pass Pro-Family Bill
HB 1195: relative to municipal zoning requirements for child day care providers, would change how municipal zoning rules apply to child care providers in the state. Specifically, the bill requires towns and cities to allow child care facilities to operate by right in appropriate zones if they meet state licensing requirements, rather than letting local ordinances restrict or block them.
This bill is a practical step to address New Hampshire’s severe shortage of child care options, which currently affects families. HB 1195 would remedy stricter local zoning ordinances that prevent home-based providers or smaller centers from operating in certain neighborhoods, thereby reducing unnecessary barriers and supporting family stability.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
🗓️ HB 1195 will now go before the full House for a vote on March 11 or 12.
✅ We urge you to contact your representatives and ask them to vote YES on the OTPA motion for the bill.
👤 You can find your representatives here.
Ask the Senate to Support State Recognition of Biological Sex
This month, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard SB 552 a critical, straightforward bill that clarifies the state’s permission to classify biological sexes in public areas such as athletic competitions, prisons, restrooms, and places of intimate privacy.
Across the state in Interlakes, Milford, and New Ipswich, biological males identifying as females have abused unrestricted access to female locker rooms, resulting in normalized harassment. Because there is no law explicitly giving permission to the state to separate biological sexes, the state Department of Justice claims that NH is prohibited from doing so at all.
SB 552 will address this issue and clarify that public entities are not forbidden from differentiating between the biological sexes. The bill resolves serious safety concerns arising from the use of self-declared gender identity by allowing the separation of shared private spaces.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
🙌 SB 552 came out of the Senate Judiciary Committee with an OTP (Ought to Pass) recommendation, on a vote of 3-2 along party lines.
🗓️ SB 552 will now go before the Senate for a full vote Thursday, March 5.
✅ Please contact your Senator and urge them to vote YES on the motion of OTP on SB 552.
Support Homeschool Freedom in the Granite State
Rep. Kristin Noble’s HB 1268, the Home Education Freedom Act, is one of the strongest pro-liberty home education reforms introduced in our state. This legislation ends burdensome state requirements like mandatory notice, portfolios, and end-of-year evaluations for homeschooling families. Instead, it ensures that New Hampshire treats homeschool education with respect and trust, giving parents the authority and flexibility to educate their children in the way that works best for their family.
Under current law, families must provide notice of intent to educate at home, maintain portfolios, and complete annual evaluations — requirements that can feel intrusive and unnecessary to many parents. This bill would make those elements optional rather than mandated by the state, allowing parents to keep records for their own purposes without government oversight. The bill also creates protections so that choosing to homeschool can’t be used as evidence of educational neglect. These reforms affirm that parents, not bureaucrats, should be the ones directing their children’s education.
HB 1268 reinforces parental rights by prohibiting school officials or boards from creating policies that govern homeschoolers, and by safeguarding the privacy and autonomy of homeschool families. The bill clarifies that no new powers will be given to the Department of Education to certify graduation or impose additional regulations. It even includes protections for families choosing to teach children with special needs and ensures that homeschooling is not misused as a negative factor in truancy or child welfare cases.
You can find detailed information regarding the bill here.
Note: We expect the committee to adopt an amendment that will make the bill contain even stronger protections for homeschooling families.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
📚 We urge you to voice your support for HB 1268 and help advance real educational freedom in New Hampshire.
📝 HB 1268 has been scheduled for an executive session Monday, March 2. During an executive session, the committee will vote to recommend the bill as OTP (ought to pass) or ITL (inexpedient to legislate).
✅ Please contact the House Education Policy and Administration Committee and urge them to vote OTP (Ought to Pass) on HB 1268.
📩 You can email the full committee here.
Christian Counseling Group Opens in New Hampshire
Shoreline Counseling Group is a clinical mental health practice serving individuals and families across the state of New Hampshire through telehealth and in-person care at our offices in Portsmouth and Dover. Our team currently includes 23 clinicians, allowing us to maintain real availability for those seeking care.
Our heart is to be a trusted partner to churches who want a safe, professional, and compassionate place to refer members of their congregation for mental health support. We understand the pastoral weight of that trust, and we steward it with great care.
At Shoreline, we treat the whole person—attending to emotional, relational, physical, and spiritual dimensions of life. We approach our work with humility, kindness, and deep respect for the vulnerability clients bring into the counseling space.
All of our therapists share a robust Christian faith that shapes how we understand the human person and the work of healing. At the same time, we serve clients from all backgrounds and beliefs. Faith is integrated into counseling only when invited by the client and always in a way that honors their convictions. In short: we work with anyone in any situation, while our internal identity remains deeply rooted in Christ.
We accept a wide range of insurance plans, and our size allows us to respond quickly when individuals or families are in need of care.
Learn more here.