Billmaker seeks opt-in requirement and attachments for nonacademic surveys; committee hears testimony pro and con on YRBS privacy and public-health value

Representative Melissa Litchfield introduced an amendment to House Bill 446 that would: (1) require school districts to attach nonacademic surveys to parent/mail or email notices rather than only posting a link, and (2) change the statutory treatment of the CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) from opt-out to opt-in so parents must expressly consent for their children to participate.

Litchfield said the amendment responds to constituent concerns that links alone are insufficient notice and that the YRBS contains sensitive questions. "The goal is to provide the same courtesy that they're receiving with all other nonacademic surveys," she said.

Public testimony was sharply divided. Advocates for parental-notification and privacy, including parental-rights advocates and several parents who described finding sensitive questions about sexual activity, suicide and ****** orientation in local survey packets, urged the committee to adopt an opt-in requirement for the YRBS. They said surveys often reach parents in early-year paperwork packets that are overlooked and that some parents do not want children to answer highly personal questions at school.

Public-health officials from the New Hampshire Division of Public Health Services and the Department of Health and Human Services urged the committee not to change the YRBS exception to opt-in. Abby Rogers and colleagues told the committee the YRBS provides anonymized, aggregated data used to detect trends in youth mental health, substance use, nutrition, injury-prevention and bullying. They warned converting the YRBS to opt-in would lower participation to levels that render the data statistically unreliable (DHHS staff told the committee a 60% participation threshold is used for region- and school-level reporting and argued opt-in would jeopardize that).

Emma Savini of New Futures and others explained that the YRBS helps target school- and community-level interventions for mental-health supports and violence prevention; they said aggregated, anonymous results drive resource decisions. Department staff described safeguards used in YRBS administration: question banks drawn from CDC standard items, use of electronic tools that do not capture personal identifiers, procedures to require classroom group sizes and on-site completion to protect anonymity, and a voluntary opt-out in which students may decline participation or skip individual questions.

School boards and administrators said districts commonly post the YRBS questionnaires on district websites and that a state sample policy (JICK) and district procedures already require parent notice. They also noted the middle-school YRBS is locally funded and optional; high-school YRBS is the state-supported administration.

Committee members asked whether schools could safely attach surveys to notices rather than link them (Litchfield's proposal) and whether YRBS data are retained or shared with third parties. DHHS staff said data are aggregated and not tied to individual students; for electronic administration the state uses a HIPAA-compliant platform and random classroom IDs, and for paper administration the answer sheets are collected and separated from questionnaires. Public-health and youth-services witnesses urged more outreach and clearer notice if the committee wants to increase parental awareness rather than switch to opt-in.

Ending: The committee recessed the bill for further review after receiving substantial testimony on the privacy, public-health value, and statistical consequences of changing the YRBS from opt-out to opt-in. Members said the proposed amendment needed broader stakeholder input before a vote.