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 school vouchers have worse educational outcomes. Increasing the expense of the school voucher program while at the same time making no progress on having the state meet its constitutional duty to Granite State students to fund a robust public education through local public schools so that those schools can meet all students’ learning needs is particularly insulting. Under this budget, local public school budgets will suffer and local property tax bills will continue to rise.
At committee of conference the House and Senate should prioritize public school students, who are nearly 90% of Granite State students, and local property taxpayers and turn down this dangerous expansion of the school voucher program.”