New Hampshire Democrat Tommy Hoyt tells parent to ‘shut up’ about parents’ bill of rights 

Democratic New Hampshire state Rep. Tommy Hoyt lashed out at a parent who urged him to support a proposed parents’ bill of rights in the Granite State this week, telling the person to “shut up.”

A “parent of four” emailed Hoyt imploring him to pass SB 272, a bill that seeks to establish a parents’ bill of rights that would prevent public schools from withholding information about their children, the NH Journal reported Thursday.

Hoyt responded to the message angrily, arguing that the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that parents are “incompetent teachers” and shouldn’t be involved in their children’s education.

“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 emailed the parent. 

The New Hampshire lawmaker confirmed the authenticity of the message to the NH Journal, telling the outlet that he “probably could have used better words.”  

“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,” he explained. 

The measure, opposed by teachers unions and LGBTQ activists, who argued it would forcibly “out” questioning students, was defeated Thursday 195-190. 

Corey DeAngelis, a senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, noted in a tweet that Hoyt is endorsed by the National Education Association — the largest labor union in the US — and won his seat in the statehouse by a mere 18 votes last year. 

Hoyt’s response to the concerned parent is reminiscent of former Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe’s 2022 campaign blunder, when he said in the final debate, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”

Republican Glenn Youngkin, whose campaign centered on education and parents’ rights, would go on to defeat McAuliffe in a state that President Biden won by 10 points.