Democratic New Hampshire State Rep. Tommy Hoyt had harsh words for a parent who wrote to him in support of a bill establishing a parental “bill of rights” in education.
A parent of children in Hopkinton, New Hampshire wrote to Rep. Hoyt asking him to support the passage of the bill, SB 272, without any amendments.
Hoyt angrily responded to the parent, “Do you know why children’s results tanked during covid? Their parents were incompetent teachers.”
“Do your children a favor, let the teachers teach, and shut up. You’re clearly no professional,” Hoyt said.
Hoyt later confirmed to the NHJournal that the email is in fact authentic.
“The way I feel is that children’s test scores in school performance dropped off drastically was because they didn’t have teachers. And the parents that thought, ‘We can replace them and can tell them what to do,’ was not effective,” Hoyt said in a comment to the NHJournal.
“I probably could have used better words,” Hoyt said.
The proposed bill, entitled “An Act Establishing a Parent’s Bill of Rights in Education,” specifies a list of 23 rights that would be guaranteed to parents of minor children in New Hampshire schools.
Some of these rights include the right to inspect any instructional material, exempt their children from immunizations, opt out of health or sex education, and the right to be informed of and provide consent for any medical procedure or treatment performed on their child.
Currently, parents in New Hampshire may encounter refusal from school districts when seeking information on how their children are being handled with respect to sex and gender matters.
Rep. Hoyt was endorsed by the National Education Association of New Hampshire, a teachers union.
Fox News Digital reached out to Hoyt for comment, to which Hoyt replied, “Nah, I’ll take my own advice and shut up.”
The parent who wrote the email, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Fox News Digital that Hoyt’s response is an “illustration” of why the parental bill of rights is needed.
“That’s the mentality that we’re fighting against, which clearly says, ‘You’re stupid, shut up. We don’t care what you think.’ So that attitude and mentality are the reason that we even have to be trying to pass a parental rights bill,” the parent said.
Hoyt isn’t the only New Hampshire Democrat vilifying parents and representatives who support parents’ rights bills.
In September of 2022 the Chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party Raymond Buckley tweeted in response to Republican Representatives supporting parents’ rights legislation claiming that it would result in kids being beaten to death or driven to suicide
The most interesting part of this story out of #NHPolitics is that @RepChrisPappas is unabashedly arguing that parents should NOT have the right to know about behavior of their own children. https://t.co/03Jr3Vympm
— ConservativeNotCrazy (@IAMMGraham) September 30, 2022
In recent months several Democratic Senators and Representatives voiced similar concerns during debates over SB 272 in the State Legislature.
Sen. Rebecca Perkins Kwoka (D-Portsmouth) said the bill “opens these children up to a litany of dangers, including hostility, rejection, isolation, and even violence from their parents.”
“Legislation like SB 272 can, and will, cause serious, irreparable harm to LGBTQ+ youth, the harm that can end up being fatal for our young citizens,” said Sen. Donovan Fenton (D-Keene).
On the other side, the New Hampshire Republican Party released a statement on Wednesday in support of SB 272.
“SB 272 establishes a Parental Bill of Rights that will protect and ensure the fundamental right that parents get to direct the upbringing and education of their children,” the statement said.
“This essential legislation establishes clear guidelines for school districts to follow when considering any action that may infringe upon the rights of a parent in their child’s education,” it said.
On Thursday the New Hampshire House of Representatives voted 195-190 to indefinitely postpone SB 272, after a motion to table the bill by Rep. Joe Sweeney (R-Salem) failed.
The bill lost support of Republican lawmakers after a series of amendments removed some of its key elements.
“I am disheartened House Democrats chose institutions over NH parents today. They chose secrets over parent-involved solutions,” House Speaker Sherman Packard (R-Londonderry) said in a statement following the vote.
“They chose to ignore the majority of NH parents who made it clear they were looking for legislative support to help protect their rights and their children,” Packard said.
NH Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley said after the vote that “Today we breathe a sigh of relief as New Hampshire House Democrats defeated SB 272, a bill poised to threaten and marginalize our transgender youth.”
“This victory signals our unwavering commitment to inclusivity, respect, and equality, and our resolve to protect all students in New Hampshire,” Buckley said.
Though SB 272 will not be able to return until after next year, Republican lawmakers remain hopeful that the expansion of the Education Freedom Account (EFA) program will allow parents to direct funding into schools and programs of their choice.