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

Senate Passed State Budget Expands Vouchers, Raises Property Taxes

AFT-NH President Deb Howes

CONCORD, N.H.— Today, the New Hampshire Senate passed their version of the state budget which mandates universal school vouchers, lowering educational outcomes and raising property taxes. AFT-NH President Deb Howes released the following statement:

“Expanding the school voucher program to the ultra-wealthy is a disservice to every Granite State property taxpayer. Educational outcomes from the voucher program are at best unproven, and all the data we have from other states shows that students who take