‘Tis the Season to Support Public Education in NH
and Defeat School Vouchers
No to HB 607
As the hustle and bustle of the holiday season surround us, let us not forget that the biggest Grinch of all, HB 607, is in our midst. You can cross off one big holiday task if you take one moment to send a message to your state representative to vote NO on HB 607, the local school voucher bill.
A new state legislative proposal contained in HB 607 would set up a second costly school voucher program that will raise our property taxes and impoverish our kids’ education.
Not only will HB 607 raise local property taxes, but it will also further impoverish our neighborhood public schools, leaving our students with only a threadbare education. As school districts struggle to cover costs, we’ll see massive cuts: Music, art, learning assistance, library, transportation, and sports would all be on the chopping block. The diversion of local property taxes to vouchers will not be made up by anyone other than local property taxpayers.
Don’t let outsourcers and privatizers devastate public education in NH. Under this proposed legislation, if a local school district adopts the program, the local portion of that district's per pupil finding can follow a student to almost any type of nonpublic schooling including homeschooling. That means thousands of dollars will leave the local school system with each child---for example, $11,462 per student in Newfields, $10,787 in Rumney, $4,871 in Conway, and $8,870 in Deerfield.
NH voters oppose spending public tax dollars on vouchers. NH voters don’t want this new voucher program. In a December 2021 Hart Research Associates poll, registered voters in the state solidly opposed spending public tax dollars for private schooling and overwhelmingly said the Legislature should focus on making public schools better for ALL kids, instead of funding vouchers for a few. Voters also feared that vouchers would mean unfair property tax hikes.
Our Legislature’s first priority should be investing in our public schools and giving them the resources to let all children thrive---not attacking and defunding them.
Please be sure to act now and let your state representative know that you are opposed to this second voucher proposal by clicking the following link vote NO on HB 607. Once you take action, please share with family and friends.
Thank you for being a public education ally and supporter.
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