Bills on teacher disclosure, school book removals heading to Ayotte’s desk 

Two fiercely debated Republican bills empowering parents in public schools are heading to Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s desk after approvals by the Senate Tuesday.

The first, Senate Bill 430, requires teachers and other employees to answer parental inquiries “completely and honestly.” The second, Senate Bill 434, would force school boards to pass policies allowing parents to more easily request books and other materials be removed from schools. In both cases, the Senate voted along party lines to approve amendments made by the House and send the bills to the governor. 

SB 430 would create a duty for all credentialed educators to respond to all written inquiries from parents “regarding information relating to their child enrolled in that educator’s school” within 10 business days. 

The legislation, dubbed the Honesty and Transparency in Education Act, has been extensively debated by lawmakers in recent years, but has never before reached the governor’s desk. 

Proponents say requiring full disclosure from teachers allows parents to have adequate information about their children and make parenting decisions. But Democrats and LGBTQ+ advocates have warned it could require educators to “out” a student’s sexual orientation or gender identity to that student’s parents, even if the student told the teacher not to. Those opponents say the legislation could create a risk that students struggling with their identity will not seek help from guidance counselors and teachers, for fear of disclosure and potential consequences if their parents disapprove. 

Sen. Debra Altschiller, a Stratham Democrat, said the bill was misguided, arguing that parents who want more information about their children’s inner lives should ask their children. 

“Parents have every right to talk to their children,” Altschiller said. “They have every right to engage with their school. They have every right to attend school board meetings and advocate for their values. What they don’t have or shouldn’t is the right to conscript every credentialed educator to a mandatory written reporting system.” 

The final version of SB 430 allows an educator to decline to answer a parent’s question if the educator makes a “good faith determination” that doing so would put the student at “imminent” risk of abuse or neglect. If an educator makes that determination, the bill requires them to respond to the parent that they are denying the request and to file a report to their superintendent.

Violation of the disclosure requirement would equate to a violation of the educator code of conduct, which could lead to consequences for that educators teaching license levied by the State Board of Education, the bill states.

Sen. Tim Lang, a Sanbornton Republican, said the aims of the bill are simple. “Let’s be clear, allowing adults and children to keep secrets from parents is a bad idea,” he said. “What we’re saying in this bill is very clear: Teachers shall not keep secrets from parents.”

SB 434, meanwhile, would require school boards to adopt a complaint procedure allowing a parent or guardian to request the removal of school materials they deem “harmful to minors, age-inappropriate, or otherwise offensive or inappropriate for use in the child’s school.”

The bill defines defines harmful material as that which “predominantly appeals to the prurient interest of minors in sex,” depicts or describes sexual conduct in a manner so explicit as to be patently offensive to contemporary adult standards, in the county within which the school district resides, with respect to what is suitable material for minors,” and lacks literary, artistic, political or scientific value.” That definition is tied to the standard of “prurient” established in the 1973 Supreme Court decision of Miller v. California.

“Let’s be clear: Pornography does not belong in our school libraries,” said Lang, saying the bill would allow “more eyes on every book to make sure a book doesn’t slip through.”

According to the bill, the procedure must include a directive that the school’s superintendent investigates those complaints, communicates with the parent making them, and fully explains their determination over whether the material is harmful to minors or inappropriate. The procedure must also allow parents to appeal a superintendent’s decision to the school board, which must take the complaint up at their next meeting and issue its own determination within 30 calendar days. If the school board denies the parent’s request, the parent would have no further recourse. 

Sen. Suzanne Prentiss, a Lebanon Democrat, said the bill is unnecessary because there are already local school board procedures in place to allow parental complaints. And she argued the bill would give individual parents too much power to impose their preferences on all students.

“Terms like ‘offensive’ and ‘inappropriate’ mean different things to different people,” she said. “What one family finds valuable literature and important historical context content another may disagree with. Why should one family choose over another what’s in the schools?”

Ayotte vetoed a similar bill last year, arguing it would create hardship and potential liability for school leaders. In her veto message, she said that it was unnecessary because state statute already allows parents to exempt their own children from content. 

It is not clear whether the governor might be more receptive to this year’s version. The 2025 bill, House Bill 324, included more aggressive enforcement options, allowing any parent or the attorney general to bring civil lawsuits against school districts that violated the law and pursue fines of up to $1,000 per violation. The 2025 bill also allowed parents to appeal any denial by their local school board to remove materials to the State Board of Education, whose members are appointed by the Governor and Executive Council, and would allow the state board to make final determinations over which materials must be removed.

This year’s bill strips away those tools, allowing school boards to have the final say.