HB 1303 - AS INTRODUCED
2000 SESSION
HOUSE BILL 1303
AN ACT establishing the freedom of education act.
SPONSORS: Rep. D. Hall, Graf 13
This bill provides that parents or other persons shall not be prohibited from the free exercise of their natural, inherent, and unalienable right to educate and rear their children in the school of their choice, whether public or private, and that no parent or other person shall be compelled to support any educational function of a religious nature, whether public or private, except as enumerated and mandated in part 1, article 6 of the New Hampshire constitution.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
00-2352
04/09
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand
AN ACT establishing the freedom of education act.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Purpose and Intent. The general court finds that it is the natural duty of parents to educate their children, and that it is the inherent right and prerogative of all parents to educate and direct their children according to the dictates of their own faith and conscience. The general court further finds that in 1961, the United States Supreme Court proclaimed that secular humanism is found to be among the religions in this country, and that the principles of secular humanism are promulgated in the curriculum and policy of the public schools of this state to the exclusion of all other religions. Therefore, the general court finds that all education is religious in nature because it deals with beliefs in the origins of the universe, the origin and purpose of Man, faith, morals, and the laws of nature and society.
2 New Subdivision; Freedom of Education. Amend RSA 189 by inserting after section 58 the following new subdivision:
189:59 Freedom of Education.
I. Except for individual action to the contrary, no parent or other individual who is a natural born, free adult American citizen shall be prohibited from the free exercise of any natural, inherent, and unalienable right to perform the natural duties of educating and rearing their children in the school of their choice, whether that school is public or private.
II. Except for individual action to the contrary, and upon filing with the town clerk an affidavit of declaration of citizen status, no individual shall be compelled to support any educational function of a religious nature, whether public or private, as is enumerated and mandated in article 6 of the Bill of Rights of the New Hampshire constitution.
III. For the purposes of this section, "public school" shall mean a denomination of educational institutions under state control.
3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.