CONCORD, NH – Today, Governor Kelly Ayotte delivered her State of the State address to lawmakers in Concord.
Megan Tuttle, President of NEA-New Hampshire, provided the following statement in response:
"We agree with Governor Ayotte—New Hampshire teachers and support staff are the most important component to providing a quality education for Granite State students.
Educators want to do more for our students. We aren’t defending the status quo; we’re fighting for improvement. Teachers and support staff want smaller classes and caseloads, more individualized support, and better outcomes for students. We deserve to know if our children are learning the curriculum and life skills they need to build bright futures. But let’s be clear—standardized tests don’t tell us that. Tests tell us how well kids take tests, whether they have a stable home life, and how well their community is able to invest in their education.
New Hampshire public schools are working to meet today’s challenges for tomorrow’s generation. It is essential to remember that we are educating the whole child, not just delivering textbooks and tests. Educators are doing everything we can to make sure every student reaches their full potential. This is about investment, not excuses.
Right now, New Hampshire voters are weighing local school budgets under unprecedented strain, as communities are once again forced to compensate for the State’s long-standing failure to adequately fund public education, despite the rising cost of meeting students’ increasingly complex needs. New Hampshire may rank in the top tier nationally for overall education spending, but that is due to individual Granite Staters choosing time and time again to make that critical investment at the local level. When it comes to state support, we rank 50th—dead last. That distinction is not accidental. It’s the result of decades of inaction, repeated court rulings ignored, and a prioritized voucher system that siphons public dollars out of public schools to subsidize a second unaccountable education system.
Today, Governor Ayotte made a promise to families and educators that the State will make sure they have the support they need to educate our kids, and that our kids will have every opportunity to succeed in their lives. We urge her administration and every policymaker in Concord to start by finally fulfilling their constitutional obligation to adequately fund our public schools, which are attended by 90% of New Hampshire students, to ensure that every school has the resources they need to meet children’s needs regardless of their race, gender, or zip code.”
Background
- NH State Department of Education District Assessment Data
- A comprehensive research review from the Albert Shanker Institute shows definitively that increasing funding in K-12 schools improves student outcomes, while cutting funding hurts those outcomes. The third edition of the institute’s “Does Money Matter in Education?” reviews decades of high-quality empirical studies of school funding and student outcomes.
- NH School District Specific Funding Data: Your Town - NH School Funding Fairness Project
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About NEA-New Hampshire
NEA-New Hampshire is the largest union of public employees in the state. Founded in 1854, the New Hampshire State Teachers Association became one of the "founding ten" state education associations that formed the National Education Association in 1857. Known today as NEA-NH, the state’s largest educator union’s mission to advocate for the children of New Hampshire and public-school employees, and to promote lifelong learning, remains true after more than 165 years. Our members are public school employees in all stages of their careers, including classroom teachers and other certified professionals, staff and instructors at public higher education institutions, students preparing for a teaching career, education support personnel and those retired from the profession.
