New Hampshire bill proposes removing CRT, LGBTQ ideologies from school curriculum

Legislation moving through New Hampshire would bar school districts from including “critical race theory and LGBTQ+ ideologies in schools, and establishes a right of action for violations,” the InDepthNH.org news website reported.

Members of the public spoke for and against House Bill 1792 in a public hearing March 17, with supporters outlining issues with the content introduced in many school curricula.

“Having had parents barking at me about what is being taught in Chichester and Pittsfield that is LGBT and the rest of the alphabet … It’s disgusting, and the pornography books; this has to stop,” said Rep. Cyril Aures, R-Chichester.

Another supporter of the legislation, Ann Marie Banfield, reminded listeners how “teachers do not have free speech in the classroom as the courts have ruled – they are under contract.”

Meanwhile, opponents of the bill argued it was a “clear and drastic overreach of the state into the classroom,” according to Katie Adams, of Exeter.

“Teachers are then left with one small and frankly bizarre set of things they may not say, a broad and vague category of other things that may be in violation, and a rigorous system of reporting and punishment,” Adams said.

Adams also raised the “potential consequence of being sued” under the bill – with “any student, parent, or employee (allowed) to report a teacher who is believed to be teaching critical race theory to the Board of Education,” according to InDepthNH.org.

‘Radical, anti-American ideologies’

After President Donald Trump’s 2025 executive order banning federal funding to K-12 schools promoting “radical, anti-American ideologies,” the issue has continued reverberating in districts nationwide.

Some states such as Arkansas have banned CRT altogether and successfully battled legal arguments against their policies.

In July 2025, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the ban after two teachers and two students argued it restricted their rights under the First Amendment.

“Since the Free Speech Clause does not give the students the right to compel the government to say something it does not wish to, they cannot show a likelihood of success,” judges wrote. “Just as ordinary citizens cannot require the government to express a certain viewpoint or maintain a prior message, students cannot oblige the government to maintain a particular curriculum or offer certain materials in that curriculum based on the Free Speech Clause.”

Other districts have retreated from overtly promoting CRT philosophies in curriculum yet have run afoul of the federal government in other areas.

For example, Wisconsin’s West Allis-West Milwaukee School District allegedly used race-based hiring practices in its 2025-2030 strategic plan.

A federal complaint has been filed against the district, according to The Daily Caller.

“[B]y creating a goal of an increase of ‘diverse’ teachers, the implied, and logical, goal is to reduce the number of teachers that are not ‘diverse.’ This is discriminatory,” the complaint argues. “Furthermore, assigning a numerical value to the goal for race-based hiring, as the District has done, represents an even more direct and egregious affront.”