The New Hampshire State Board of Education on June 12 voted to deny a Learn Everywhere application from Amistad Health (presented by Heather McKinney) requesting a high‑school half‑credit for a curriculum centered on adolescent sexual health and related topics.

Board members and staff said the proposed program, which uses a nationally distributed third‑party curriculum, addressed important topics but covered a small fraction of the state’s nine competency areas for health education. Board members worried awarding a half‑credit for that single component would leave students missing other state‑required health competencies such as nutrition, substance use prevention, mental health and violence prevention.

Why it matters: New Hampshire’s high‑school health standard bundles multiple competency areas into a semester‑length credit. The board’s policy requires Learn Everywhere offerings to align to those state standards sufficiently for credit recognition. Members said the Amistad proposal presented one discrete strand of those standards and would therefore be inappropriate as a stand‑alone half‑credit.

What the board heard: Heather McKinney, the applicant, said the program uses a national curriculum and that content changes are reviewed through medical‑accuracy processes. She described recent adaptations to remove certain appendices, referencing executive‑level federal guidance, and said the program reaches adolescents through partnerships with residential and community providers.

Board members noted three issues: (1) the application covered primarily one of nine health education components, (2) the third‑party curriculum could change outside the board’s direct control and would need re‑review, and (3) medical reviews referenced were federal processes that do not substitute for demonstration of alignment to New Hampshire standards.

Formal action: A board member moved to reject the application. The motion passed in the public meeting and staff informed the applicant that the Learn Everywhere application was not accepted. The transcript records the motion and the vocal “Aye” votes in the meeting.

Context and next steps: Board staff and members invited the applicant to consider combining Amistad’s offering with other content (for example, substance‑use curriculum from a separate grant) or otherwise expanding the curriculum so a fuller set of state health competencies would be covered. Staff said applicants may reapply with a crosswalk showing specific alignment to New Hampshire standards and assessments for the additional competency areas.

Ending: The board framed the decision as a standards‑alignment issue rather than a judgment on the public‑health value of the content; members praised the program’s intention but said state credit requires demonstrable coverage of the established health competencies.