ACTION REQUESTED: SIGN IN TO OPPOSE HB 115 being heard in the HOUSE Education Funding Committee on Thursday, January 16th at 1:00 pm. Please find step-by-step instructions to sign in below. 

One of the biggest bills of the year will have its hearing during the very first week of public hearings in the House. HB 115 would expand our unaccountable voucher program by eliminating the income qualifying cap entirely. That means taxpayers would be subsidizing extremely wealthy families who send their kids to elite private schools. A recent report from Reaching Higher NH indicates that expanding our voucher program with no income limit could cost the state over $100 million dollars per year. That is $100 million in public money that would be diverted away from supporting public education – even though Granite Staters overwhelmingly support their community public schools, which are attended by nearly 90% of New Hampshire students.  

In Kearsarge recently, over 1,500 people showed up at their deliberative session to protect school funding by rejecting an effort to put an artificial budget cap on their local schools. Like many communities across the state, the support for local public schools and educators is deep and wide. The question is: will the state support them or will they choose to divert more taxpayer money toward the unaccountable voucher program. 

Instead of sinking more money into a program that its advocates refuse to place any accountability on, tell the legislature they should support local communities by fully funding special education costs, maintaining or increasing aid to be able to hire or retain qualified educators, and funding buildin aid so that students have safe and health environments to learn.