Gov. Kelly Ayotte vetoed a bill that would have banned sexual materials, including books, from classrooms and libraries in New Hampshire’s public schools, thwarting an effort from Republicans to create stricter parental controls over the content available to kids.
Ayotte said in a press release on Tuesday that New Hampshire shouldn’t dip its toe into judging literary value and the bill, House Bill 324, could have made the state vulnerable to lawsuits. The state already has laws that notify parents of upcoming lessons involving sexuality and gender identity and allow them to exempt their children from participating in those lessons, she said.
“Current state law appears to provide a mechanism for parents through their local school district to exercise their rights to ensure their children are not exposed to inappropriate materials,” Ayotte wrote in her reasoning for the veto. “Therefore, I do not believe the State of New Hampshire needs to, nor should it, engage in the role of addressing questions of literary value and appropriateness.”
State legislators approved HB 324 along party lines this session. Proposed by Tuftonboro Republican Rep. Glenn Cordelli, the legislation sought to prohibit schools from providing any materials to students that meets the legal threshold for obscenity or falls under what the state deems age-inappropriate or “harmful to minors.” This includes descriptions of nudity and sexual conduct, a predominant appeal to “prurient, shameful or morbid” interests and a lack of other literary, scientific, medical, artistic or political value for minors.
People voiced their opposition to the bill through a “read-in” demonstration at the State House last month, where dozens of protesters and education advocates lined the halls in front of Ayotte’s office and read some of the books most commonly banned in the U.S.
Ayotte’s veto won praise from state education associations on Tuesday.
“Every student deserves to see themselves reflected in the pages of their books,” Megan Tuttle, president of NEA-New Hampshire, said in a statement. “We hope this book ban bill veto represents a changing tide at the State House and call on lawmakers to listen to Granite Staters who overwhelmingly oppose classroom censorship efforts.”
Cordelli, on the other hand, argued earlier this year that schools should “concentrate on academics and knowledge instead of sexualizing our children” and questioned the educational value of graphic depictions of sex in school library books. He did not respond to an interview request for this story before deadline.
HB 324 also would have required local school districts to use the state law as a baseline for building their own policies to govern what content is allowed in their schools. It would also have required districts to provide an official forum for parents to question the materials available to their kids. Those policies already exist in several school districts in New Hampshire.
Barrett Christina, executive director of the New Hampshire School Boards Association, opposed the bill, saying it was “likely unconstitutional” due to a vague standard on what material could be considered “harmful to minors.”
Christina also took issue with how the bill would have conferred final appeal powers to the state Board of Education.
“Essentially, seven unelected bureaucrats could’ve been able to determine what books could’ve been included or kept in local school libraries,” he said in an interview. “NHSBA believes those education decisions are best made locally, by locally elected school board members.”
Republicans, including Ayotte, have emphasized a need to expand and protect parental control over their children’s education. Though she vetoed the ban on sexual materials, Ayotte previously signed into law a more sweeping “parental bill of rights.”
The Legislature will have an opportunity to override Ayotte’s veto in a few months. Overriding a veto requires a two-thirds majority vote in both the House and Senate; even with Republicans’ expanded majority in the State House this year, their chances to push the bill through will be slim.
Charlotte Matherly is the statehouse reporter for the Concord Monitor and Monadnock Ledger-Transcript in partnership with Report for America. Follow her on X at @charmatherly, subscribe to her Capital Beat newsletter and send her an email at cmatherly@cmonitor.com.
