Your Action Requested
We wanted to provide a quick (and early!) bulletin this week before many of our members who are public school educators and school staff take a well-deserved April break.
This week, the House heard and then immediately voted to defeat SB 442 in committee. SB 442 would have raised the income cap on the school voucher program to 400% of federal poverty, which is about $125,000 a year for a family of 4. The Republicans on the House Education Committee has made it clear that they voted against this bill not because they understand that the already over-budget, unaccountable voucher scheme is bad for New Hampshire students, school and property taxpayers but because they already passed HB1665 which raises the voucher program to 500% of the federal poverty level, which is about $156,000 for a family of 4. They want to give away more of our tax money to families, most of whom are already managing to pay for private school or home schooling without a state funded tax subsidy.
HB 1665 was heard in front of the Senate Education Committee this week. With current state revenues stagnating, some in the Senate seems to understand that it would be fiscally irresponsible to raise the voucher limit to 500% of federal poverty, however we need to make sure they continue to hear from you to know that the citizens of New Hampshire are watching. We need them to know that Granite State parents, taxpayers, and voters want them to focus on funding our local neighborhood public schools that serve the educational needs of nearly 165,000 students despite the state chronically underfunding them. We need all 165,000 of those students to be able to learn and thrive in our public schools. We don’t need expanded school vouchers to help just some families.
Also, next week on Monday, House Education will hear and vote on SB 341, a bill that would create a surveillance state in our schools, mandating that educators provide any information that they may know or have overheard about a student to a parent. We have said it before and we will say it again, our schools work best when there is a collaborative relationship between parents, teachers, and students. And just as importantly, it will create an atmosphere of mistrust of teachers by students, which will interfere with their ability to feel safe at school and focus on their learning. This bill puts educators in the middle of the student-parent relationship which will benefit no one and will create unnecessary tension.
YOUR ACTION REQUESTED
- Please tell the Senate Education Committee that New Hampshire cannot afford to expand school vouchers and to focus on funding our local neighborhood public schools which is their constitutional duty! Tell them to reject HB 1655. You can EMAIL THE SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE now by clicking the link.
- Tell the House Education Committee that schools work best when parents, teachers and students work together. One click and you can ask them to Vote Inexpedient to Legislate on SB 341.
Thank you for taking action.
Legislative Action Toolkit
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You can also read written testimony submitted to the legislature at STATE HOUSE NEWS.
We will post the next week’s schedule of bills we are monitoring at the end of the weekly bulletin. If you want to find out more information about any bill, you can simply enter the bill at the following link: FIND A BILL.
We encourage you to take action on other bills. Please note our position is not noted on the current tracker for bills that have already been heard and are now pending executive session action or in a work session in committee since the period for testimony has passed.
For any of the bills scheduled for a hearing you can register your position on any bill scheduled for a public hearing at the following link: SUBMIT YOUR POSITION ON A BILL.