Faculty voucher invoice is a missile aimed on the coronary heart of NH public schooling
The pandemic has made it clear that public schools are essential to keeping our communities together and strengthening our democracy. From feeding our children to hosting our elections, we count on public schools to provide our children with quality education and meet the most basic needs of personal and civil life.
Eric Schildge
Over the past twenty months we have learned that the better funded a school is, the more likely it is to meet the needs of its students and the community. After all these learning disruptions and a bitter political argument over whether and how our schools can become more welcoming and inclusive to teaching and learning, New Hampshire public schools face their greatest threat to date.
Last November, the House of Representatives Education Committee voted for the country’s most extreme school voucher law. It suggests giving every resident the opportunity to withdraw an average of $ 10,000 from their local school budget each year for each of their children in the K-12 education system. It does not put requirements on the groups receiving these funds to provide certain services or curricula, and it does not impose any income or property restrictions on families who receive this money from their local public schools.
If a family chooses to withdraw these funds, they are entitled to it every year until the child graduates. For example, a family who receives a $ 10,000 voucher for their first-class child will be entitled to $ 120,000 over the next twelve years, regardless of whether the program continues or the city property taxpayers can afford it be able. A family of four could raise nearly half a million dollars in local tax dollars to fund their local public school!
Put simply, this bill is a missile aimed directly at the heart of New Hampshire public education. It threatens the well-being of our community by robbing our public schools of much-needed funding, leaving our children with special needs in their schools without adequate support, placing a greater burden on all of us to meet the inevitable increase in property taxes, and ultimately sending ours public school system is falling from which it may never recover.
The story goes on
Many people have made strong arguments about the dangers of the outflow of funds from our local public schools, but I would like to take a moment to explain why our local schools make every dollar we send them and why it matters more rather than fully funding our schools by rejecting this bill and voting yes to teacher contracts and school budgets in March.
Public schools open their doors to every child. They are one of the few places in our state where young people from all walks of life come together to grow and learn. This means that the many students who would be turned away or who would never think of applying to a parish or private school are welcome in our public schools, no matter who they are, what they believe and what challenges they face. At the school where I teach, for example, we have students with severe disabilities who need intensive and expensive supervision. We offer it because it is our responsibility as a public school to educate every child in our community. More importantly, we know that helping these students benefit everyone in our community by sending a clear message that everyone deserves a chance to grow and prosper.
I am proud of my city’s history as the site of the state’s first public school. I want to live in a community that will continue to take care of each of its children. I don’t want to live in a community where every family is encouraged to have theirs while they are good, while abandoning other people’s children to face the aftermath in an underfunded school.
I hope that our community’s greatest asset is as important to our elected officials as I do, and I beg them to oppose this bill for the benefit of my family and all of our Hampton neighbors. If you vote for this bill, I encourage all of us to make our voice heard at the ballot box by voting to fully fund our schools and elect representatives who will fight for fair and adequate school funding in NH!
Eric Schildge, of Hampton, is a member of the Hampton Town Democratic Committee.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Blue View: School Voucher Bill will deduct funds from NH public schools
