State House News

State Budget Approved

After more than a week of veto threats and infighting between Governor Ayotte and the Republican led House and Senate, a budget was finally passed this week. Even with the so-called Group II retirement fix and a fix in the funding for Manchester public schools, this budget leaves a lot to be desired.

It does nothing to fix the inadequate and unconstitutional state funding our local neighborhood public schools that leaves the robustness of a student’s public education dependent on the ability of the local property taxpayers to fill in gigantic gaps left by the state. In

State Budget Up in The Air

Governor Threatens Veto

When is a budget not a budget? When it is vetoed by the Governor!  After a week of painstaking negotiations between the House and Senate budget writers over revenue estimates and which programs would be cut and which ones spared, Governor Ayotte says she will be vetoing the Republican passed budget.

The Governor isn’t vetoing the budget because it creates a Medicaid income tax for the most vulnerable Granite Staters, that was in her budget too. She isn’t vetoing it, because it rapidly expands the unaccountable voucher program to even the richest

Public Education Takes a Hit in NH

Big Decisions Remain

Lots of public education news this week, though not a lot of good news.

Four things happened on Tuesday that will shape public education in New Hampshire for years to come. Tuesday morning the governor signed universal school vouchers and so-called parental bill of rights. We have talked about these bills a lot this year and previous years. We know what this means. It means scarce public money will be diverted to private schools, without solving the issue of school funding for our local neighborhood public schools. So-called parental bill of

Critical Legislative Decisions Ahead on State Budget

The extremist majorities in the NH House and Senate showed their total disregard for public school students, educators and local property taxpayers as they wrapped up work on bills week. The Senate passed a budget that prioritizes expanding the state’s school voucher program instead of improving funding for students with special education needs in our public schools. The House passed two different bills that focused entirely on parental rights and ignored the best interests of the student and student safety.

The House has now dealt with all

Universal School Voucher Bills in House and Senate Finance Committees

Take Action on Book Ban

We are in our last month of the legislative session in Concord. While there are still a lot of key votes to be taken and then the Governor will have to act on all of the bills the legislature passes, the legislature still has some key votes we are monitoring closely.

Next Week the House and Senate Finance Committees will have to take action on their irresponsible, unreasonable and unproven school voucher program. House Finance needs to approve the Senate version of universal school vouchers. Senate

Book Ban Passes in Senate and Heads to Governor Ayotte

Please Take Action Now

The extremist majority in Concord was at it again this week, undermining students’ ability to get the robust public education they have a right to in our public schools.  This week the Senate passed HB 324, a bill that would make it easier to remove books and classroom materials from public schools by categorizing them as obscene, age-inappropriate or harmful to minors. The terms in the bill are vague and entirely subjective. Similar bills in other states have led to the removal of dictionaries from school libraries

Universal Vouchers Advance

Universal Vouchers Advance

Universal Vouchers  Anti-public education politicians continue their march towards a universal school voucher program this week. The House passed an amended version of SB 295 which starts a universal voucher program next year. As we have talked about many times expanding school vouchers to the wealthy Granite State families is not only fiscally irresponsible in a time where revenues are tight and programs that provide health care for working families and needed supports for Granite Staters with disabilities are being cut, but it also