School Vouchers Steal Public School
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Shared with permission from the Hillsborough County Democratic Committee
The Issue: Sununu and New Hampshire Republicans have made attacks on public education a central aspect of their legislative and campaign priorities.
Last year, Governor Sununu, New Hampshire Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut, and the increasingly radical Republican legislators in control of the NH State House launched a school voucher scheme that is already wildly over budget. This scheme takes money from our public schools and gives it to out-of-state vendors, private and religious schools, and homeschoolers. This school voucher program - which has been called one of the most expensive and expansive school voucher programs in the country - is over budget by $8 million in its first year and $15 million in its second. (The proposed budget for the plan was $170,000.)
As we head into the second year of the scheme with more students enrolled, the financial impact on the state is growing and it is estimated to cost New Hampshire up to $70 million in just three years. In addition to the exorbitant costs, the Republican voucher program will weaken public school systems and increase local property taxes.
Watch this video to learn how the Republican's school voucher program negatively impacts your property taxes while siphoning money from our communities' public schools.
Last year, Governor Sununu, New Hampshire Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut, and the increasingly radical Republican legislators in control of the NH State House launched a school voucher scheme that is already wildly over budget. This scheme takes money from our public schools and gives it to out-of-state vendors, private and religious schools, and homeschoolers. This school voucher program - which has been called one of the most expensive and expansive school voucher programs in the country - is over budget by $8 million in its first year and $15 million in its second. (The proposed budget for the plan was $170,000.)
As we head into the second year of the scheme with more students enrolled, the financial impact on the state is growing and it is estimated to cost New Hampshire up to $70 million in just three years. In addition to the exorbitant costs, the Republican voucher program will weaken public school systems and increase local property taxes.
Watch this video to learn how the Republican's school voucher program negatively impacts your property taxes while siphoning money from our communities' public schools.
The Solution: Vote for Democrats! New Hampshire deserves better. Vote for change and show your support for public schools in the Granite State.
Democrats will stand up for strong public schools, which also serve as vital community hubs. Democrats believe that supporting teachers is crucial to strong public schools.
Taxpayer dollars belong in our public schools, servicing ALL of New Hampshire’s children, and out of the pockets of for-profit private vendors and religious schools.
Join Democrats in fighting back against the attempt to dismantle public education. In New Hampshire, we believe in fairness. No matter where we live or what our background is, access to a strong public education helps level the playing field. Every child in New Hampshire should have a safe place to learn and thrive, regardless of race, religion, ability, or zip code.
Strong public schools will make New Hampshire a leader in providing tomorrow’s well-educated labor pool, creating responsible, prepared community members and attracting new businesses and jobs to the Granite State.
Democrats will stand up for strong public schools, which also serve as vital community hubs. Democrats believe that supporting teachers is crucial to strong public schools.
Taxpayer dollars belong in our public schools, servicing ALL of New Hampshire’s children, and out of the pockets of for-profit private vendors and religious schools.
Join Democrats in fighting back against the attempt to dismantle public education. In New Hampshire, we believe in fairness. No matter where we live or what our background is, access to a strong public education helps level the playing field. Every child in New Hampshire should have a safe place to learn and thrive, regardless of race, religion, ability, or zip code.
Strong public schools will make New Hampshire a leader in providing tomorrow’s well-educated labor pool, creating responsible, prepared community members and attracting new businesses and jobs to the Granite State.
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Background: The voucher program, as mentioned above, is only one of the NH-GOP's attempts at radically changing New Hampshire schools.
Governor Sununu, along with Republican members of the Executive Council, appointed former businessman and politician Frank Edelblut to the role of Education Commissioner in 2017. Upon taking office, Edelblut’s first major policy move was to discontinue the New Hampshire Department of Education’s nationally acclaimed pilot school reform program that provided intensive training for public schools to do student assessments. Instead, he set up a program to grant students high school credit for extracurriculars but did not include local district oversight to approve the credits. He also used $5 million in taxpayer money to pay for a private, for-profit online school (Prenda) that hires a "trained tutor" to host students in their home while they learn online.
In 2021, Edelblut and the Republican majority pushed through a ‘divisive concepts’ bill (HB2). burying it in the state budget as they did with the voucher program. The Commissioner then added a website where parents or students could report any teacher they felt was breaking the law that restricts how educators teach or talk about racism, sexism, discrimination and other topics related to inequality. (The website prompted a conservative organization to offer a $500 bounty for the first successful reporting of a public school teacher.)
In the past two years, the GOP has also passed/pushed bills to:
There are accusations that Republicans, funded by out-of-state billionaire Libertarian extremists, have a goal of dismantling and shutting down New Hampshire’s public education system. This is, in fact, one of the goals of the Free State Party which has gained traction in the state and influence across the GOP ranks. These attacks on public education are a central aspect of their legislative and campaign priorities. Their strategies include:
What the Voucher Program Does: The school voucher program uses the state's portion of property tax dollars to fund religious and wealthy private schools and home schooling instead of local public schools and is already millions of dollars over budget. There is very little oversight on how the money is spent, as the program is run by a private organization.
Governor Sununu, along with Republican members of the Executive Council, appointed former businessman and politician Frank Edelblut to the role of Education Commissioner in 2017. Upon taking office, Edelblut’s first major policy move was to discontinue the New Hampshire Department of Education’s nationally acclaimed pilot school reform program that provided intensive training for public schools to do student assessments. Instead, he set up a program to grant students high school credit for extracurriculars but did not include local district oversight to approve the credits. He also used $5 million in taxpayer money to pay for a private, for-profit online school (Prenda) that hires a "trained tutor" to host students in their home while they learn online.
In 2021, Edelblut and the Republican majority pushed through a ‘divisive concepts’ bill (HB2). burying it in the state budget as they did with the voucher program. The Commissioner then added a website where parents or students could report any teacher they felt was breaking the law that restricts how educators teach or talk about racism, sexism, discrimination and other topics related to inequality. (The website prompted a conservative organization to offer a $500 bounty for the first successful reporting of a public school teacher.)
In the past two years, the GOP has also passed/pushed bills to:
- Dissolve and repeal our cooperative school districts - limiting the ability of small towns to share resources (HB1679).
- Turn our whole state into the Croydon debacle, taking advantage of our small town processes and allowing a small minority to enact damaging budget caps that require a supermajority vote to be overturned (HB1393).
- Create a teacher “loyalty bill” that expands the ban on teaching true and accurate history (HB1255).
- Change the youth risk behavior survey in schools from opt-out to opt-in, decreasing the value of the survey by reducing participation (HB1639).
- Gut core curriculum with an aim to removing Arts, PE, Computer Science, Languages and Engineering from the definition of an adequate education (HB1671).
- Require teachers and guidance counselors to "out" LGBTQ+ youth to their parents, regardless of the child's home situation (HB1431).
- Force criminal penalties if districts do not provide curriculum to parents on demand (HB1072).
- Extend the bloated voucher scheme to wealthy NH families by raising income eligibility levels (HB1298).
There are accusations that Republicans, funded by out-of-state billionaire Libertarian extremists, have a goal of dismantling and shutting down New Hampshire’s public education system. This is, in fact, one of the goals of the Free State Party which has gained traction in the state and influence across the GOP ranks. These attacks on public education are a central aspect of their legislative and campaign priorities. Their strategies include:
- Diverting public dollars to private schools and individuals
- Censuring classrooms
- Vilifying teachers and educators
- Increasing regulatory burdens
- Diluting curriculum
- Fueling parental discontent
- Fighting public health protections in our schools
What the Voucher Program Does: The school voucher program uses the state's portion of property tax dollars to fund religious and wealthy private schools and home schooling instead of local public schools and is already millions of dollars over budget. There is very little oversight on how the money is spent, as the program is run by a private organization.
New Hampshire ranks dead last in the nation for state education funding, and this school voucher program only serves to shift more funding away from public schools to subsidize private schools, and home schooling. The recipients of the vouchers are largely comprised of private religious schools.
Unlike public schools, private institutions may exclude students based on gender, religion, ability, or income.
Not a popular program: A UNH Survey Center Poll found that almost half of all Granite Staters oppose school vouchers yet Governor Sununu has shown no intention of changing his policy.
Basically a new tax: "When you hear Republicans promote their 'school choice' and 'education freedom' program, remember what it is - a new, rapidly growing tax on Granite Staters to subsidize people already paying for private and religious education." - House Minority Leader David Cote.
While the program is marketed as a way to help Granite State students go to a new school, nearly 90% of the students using New Hampshire’s voucher program were already attending private schools or were being homeschooled prior to receiving individual state funding. Only 204 of the 1800 students who entered the program were enrolled in a public school the year prior.
In order to continue to fund vital school programs such as school buses, academic programs, and even teacher salaries, many towns could soon be forced to raise local property taxes to replace the lost revenue the state will be sending to private schools and homeschoolers.
Read this article by longtime NH political journalist Garry Rayno and learn why school vouchers are only the beginning for the radical right. The Free Staters and other extreme Libertarians who are currently controlling our State House have the ultimate goal to make government much smaller, which they hope to accomplish by disrupting traditional public education with lower cost, less regulated for-profit, alternative programs.
© 2022 by hillsboroughdems.org. TuneInNH.com
Unlike public schools, private institutions may exclude students based on gender, religion, ability, or income.
Not a popular program: A UNH Survey Center Poll found that almost half of all Granite Staters oppose school vouchers yet Governor Sununu has shown no intention of changing his policy.
Basically a new tax: "When you hear Republicans promote their 'school choice' and 'education freedom' program, remember what it is - a new, rapidly growing tax on Granite Staters to subsidize people already paying for private and religious education." - House Minority Leader David Cote.
While the program is marketed as a way to help Granite State students go to a new school, nearly 90% of the students using New Hampshire’s voucher program were already attending private schools or were being homeschooled prior to receiving individual state funding. Only 204 of the 1800 students who entered the program were enrolled in a public school the year prior.
In order to continue to fund vital school programs such as school buses, academic programs, and even teacher salaries, many towns could soon be forced to raise local property taxes to replace the lost revenue the state will be sending to private schools and homeschoolers.
Read this article by longtime NH political journalist Garry Rayno and learn why school vouchers are only the beginning for the radical right. The Free Staters and other extreme Libertarians who are currently controlling our State House have the ultimate goal to make government much smaller, which they hope to accomplish by disrupting traditional public education with lower cost, less regulated for-profit, alternative programs.
© 2022 by hillsboroughdems.org. TuneInNH.com
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