Debora Hatcher

I am an independent voter in Dover. I am becoming increasingly concerned about the time spent in Concord on partisan bills like this that create problems for NH citizens and their local governments and schools and waste time on 'culture wars'. This bill is troubling because it allows one parent to ban books or classroom materials for the children of other citizens. Parents with concerns about books or classroom materials should talk to their children to provide their perspective first, and if necessary talk to their teacher/librarian/school board. They should not have the right to determine what every other child can read or hear. As I said, I suspect this bill is designed to allow the banning of subjects Republicans disagree with, but the flipside should be considered: If every book/item of educational material that concerned every parent were eliminated from our schools there would be little remaining on the shelves and in the classrooms. This bill is a misguided and inappropriate overreach by Concord into local schools and citizens' rights. It will allow a single parent or small group of parents to disrupt and interfere with the education of all children. Please focus on solving the real problems in NH public education: Funding and teacher recruitment. Please stop creating problems and increasing the burden on our schools.