Eric Pauer, President of the SDGA, announced Glenn Cordelli as recipient of the Dan Richards Education Champion of the Year Award for 2024. The award was presented at the SDGA Annual General Meeting held May 4, 2024 in Concord NH. Mr. Pauer’s remarks follow:
Representative Glenn Cordelli is a true education champion. He is SDGA Board Member, and has served in that role for many years. Glenn is now serving his sixth term in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, first elected in 2012. Most recently, he serves as the Vice Chairman of the House Education Committee. Those familiar with the New Hampshire House know that the House Education Committee is by far the busiest committee in the legislature. Despite this committee workload, Glenn himself has sponsored and co-sponsored 34 bills this year – most of them related to education. He has promoted bills that move forward transparency, efficiency, and responsible governance in school districts.
Despite being a savvy legislator who knows how to get bills passed, he does what is right, not what is expedient. Glenn takes courageous stands even in the face of almost certain failure because someone needs to do it. That is the action of a champion.
He prime sponsored HB 530, now law, which provides a fairer process for a withdrawal vote in cooperative school districts. Glenn also continues to take an interest in legislation that helps our students with disabilities, and has served on the New Hampshire State Advisory Committee on the Education of Children/Students with Disabilities. He also advocates for ensuring our youngest students are being properly taught how to read.
Glenn is a game changer for school choice in the Granite State. He is the prime sponsor of HB1665, which recently passed the House and is in the Senate. This bill will increase student eligibility for Education Freedom Accounts for families earning up to 500% of the poverty level, covering most New Hampshire families.
Glenn has walked point recently on two other high profile issues. He prime sponsored CACR7, which provides that parents shall have a fundamental right to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their minor children. While this constitutional amendment did not pass, he bravely advocated on the House floor for the urgent need to recognize the role of parents and parents rights in our New Hampshire Constitution.
Speaking of brave, Glenn also prime sponsored HB1419, relative to prohibiting obscene or harmful sexual materials in schools. In his debate speech, he laid out the need for this legislation, and then started reading some example excerpts from obscene books currently used in New Hampshire middle schools. Some Democrat representatives objected, saying they were offended, and called for a House vote on the motion “should the member continue”. Thankfully, the House let him continue. Unfortunately, a vote to indefinitely postpone the bill narrowly succeeded. However, the public video of this portion of the House session went viral on Tik-Tok and other platforms with millions of views, because it showed the hypocrisy of adult legislators objecting to language and books that they think are OK for middle school students.
For these reasons, as President of the School District Governance Association of New Hampshire, I am proud to award Representative Glenn Cordelli the 2024 Dan Richards Education Champion of the Year Award. Congratulations Glenn!
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