AFT-NH Legislative Bulletin (2024-02) Action Needed

Take Action to Stop Expansion of School Vouchers

Action Needed

Education Funding   Last week in addition to the bills we have previously highlighted, the House Education Committee focused on bills that look to solve our school funding problem. New Hampshire ranks 49^th in state aid to our public schools, and even in the face of numerous previous court rulings that declared our funding formula unconstitutional, the legislature has not found anything close to the right solution to fix our school funding problems. That means that the 160,000 students that attend their neighborhood public school in New Hampshire have public educations that vary due to zip code as our reliance on property taxes cause some districts to be able to afford smaller class sizes and more robust educational opportunities for their students. Every Granite State student has the constitutional right to a robust public education and it does not depend on where they live in the state.

While it has been clear for decades that New Hampshire has a school funding problem, this fall when the Superior Court released their ruling that again the State of New Hampshire was shortchanging students by underfunding its public schools it also assigned an amount the State must pay per student—a number almost double to what we currently provide—it made the problem even more pressing for a solution.  The House has formed a new sub-committee whose task is to explicitly study school funding and try to come up with answers. It is not a small task but one vital to the future of New Hampshire.

Another Significant Expansion of Vouchers  With all of this in the background, next week, the House Education Committee will be taking up a slew of bills that will massively raise the state’s spending on the already overbudget, zero- accountability school voucher program. Any spending on vouchers is a choice by the state, as the courts have also ruled. The state’s only constitutional duty is to provide the opportunity for a public education. The voucher expansion bills vary—raising the income eligibility cap to 500% above poverty level, meaning a family of 4 who makes $150,000 could get a voucher effectively removing all income caps on the voucher program so that even a multi-millionaire would be able to send take your hard-earned tax money designed for public schools and use it to send his kids to an elite private school. Once the income eligibility is met there is no cap in subsequent years. Make no mistake, vouchers are already costing the state and our public schools, tens of millions of dollars.  Expanding them in this way—providing yet another tax break for the ultra-wealthy at the expense of middle-class Granite Staters is wrong and we must stop.

Here is a quick breakdown of the four voucher bills being heard before the House Education Committee this week:

HB 1561  (relative to qualifications for student eligibility in the education freedom accounts program.)  This bill creates categories for unlimited vouchers including “concern that attending school could lead to the spread of a contagious disease such as COVID-19, the common cold…” It is clear this bill creates universal vouchers, once again a giveaway to the ultra-wealthy.

HB 1634  (relative to universal eligibility for the education freedom account) This bill would remove the income limit on voucher participation allowing the ultra-wealthy to use our tax dollars meant for public schools.

HB 1665 (relative to student eligibility for the education freedom accounts program.) This bill raises the income limit from 350% to 500% or $150,00 for a family of four.

HB 1677  (relative to participation in education freedom accounts based on school or school district proficiency scores) This bill removes the income limit for families within the “geographic area” of a public school with less than 49% proficiency. In addition to draining resources from our schools and students who need them the most, “geographic area” is not defined and could easily be a statewide unlimited voucher system

Book Ban is back.  Unfortunately, those are not the only bills that are being heard next week. House Education is also hearing a repeat of the book ban bill brought forward last year.   HB 1419 would effectively allow a parent to remove books or other materials for all children. Make no mistake, in our neighborhood public schools if you as a parent do not want your child to read a particular book you have that right, but you do not have the right to make that decision for someone else. We also know that the vast majority of books that are banned feature or are written by LGBTQ people or by communities of color.

No certification required for those who teach less than 30 hours per week? On Tuesday, January 16, the Senate Education Committee will ha adhering on  in Senate Education they are hearing  SB 374 that weakens the standards for becoming a teacher ve allowing someone who does not have a credential to work up to 30 hours a week. Teaching is not only about knowing academic content, but also about understanding communication, classroom management, child development and pedagogy.  Our students deserve educators who understand how to best educate them so they can be set up for success in their lives. Lowering standards does not do that but could very well lower the educational experience for our students.

Divisive Concepts Lawsuit   We will be back in court on Tuesday fighting against the divisive concepts bill that was passed 3 years ago. We are seeking summary judgment, basically saying we do not need a full trial on this because the State has provided no evidence that this law is needed and we have proven our arguments.  We do not expect a decision on this right away, but we are moving forward.

URGENT ACTION NEEDED FOR THIS WEEK

Email the House Education Committee and tell them to fulfill their constitutional obligations to fully fund our neighborhood public schools and say NO to any further expansion of vouchers.

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You can also read written testimony submitted to the legislature at STATE HOUSE NEWS.

We will post next week’s schedule of bill 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.

Upcoming Legislative Hearings