Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley (R-Wolfeboro), prime sponsor of Senate Bill 130, told a senate committee on Tuesday that he would be open to amendments similar to those proposed in the House on a similar voucher bill, which would restrict state aid through the voucher system to families earning less than 375 percent of the federal property level, and continuing aid to any public school districts losing students through a three-year phase-down in order to avoid a sharp loss of revenue to traditional public schools.
The bill as proposed would provide a parent enrolling in the “education freedom accounts” program between $4,500 and $8,500 per pupil toward tuition to any private, religious, or alternative school, along with related educational costs. The money would include the basic state adequacy grant of $3,700, with additional money for students who qualify for free or reduced lunches, special education services, or English as a Second Language instruction, as well as those who have failed to reach English proficiency. The average grant is estimated to be $4,600.
Polls have shown that 70 percent of New Hampshire adults support school vouchers as a way of providing the type of education that students need, but public school officials argue that portable school funding will harm traditional schools that still would have to provide all of the services while working with less state aid.
Rep. Glenn Cordelli (R-Tuftonboro), a backer of House Bill 20, the other chamber’s version of the proposal, said a hearing on that bill drew 1,100 parents in support of the measure. “On one side you have [public school] lobbyists and advocates and on the other side are parents,” Cordelli said. “It is the school units versus the kids.”
Department of Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut told the committee that the arguments against vouchers are the same ones made against charter schools and the tax credit scholarship program. “This refrain is tired and this refrain is demonstratively not true,” Edelblut said, for neither one had harmed public education or taken millions of dollars from traditional public schools.
“If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that not all children learn the same, so there is a real need for more flexibility when it comes to schooling — it’s simply not one size fits all,” Bradley said. “Education freedom accounts put the power to choose the best educational path for children in their parents’ hands.”
Jane Bergeron-Beaulieu, the executive director of the New Hampshire Association of Special Education Administrators, opposed the change, saying it “would set up a situation for dual enrollment. A student could get tutoring for half of the day and come back to the public school to finish to get special ed services, but the money and resources [would] have left.”
Retirement System Hires Executive Director
The Board of Trustees of the New Hampshire Retirement System has named Jan Goodwin as executive director, effective April 1. She replaces George Logos, who retired on March 1. Deputy Executive Director Tim Crutchfield is serving as interim executive director.
Goodwin grew up in Albany, New York, and is a graduate of Wesleyan University, New York University Stern School of Business, and the University of New Mexico. She has led the New Mexico Educational Retirement Board since 2008.
Goodwin also is a certified public accountant and is president-elect of the National Council on Teacher Retirement.
Baby’s Life Is Saved
Last Wednesday, Tilton Police officer Richard Paulhus drew upon his training to save the life of a child in distress and unable to breathe.
The incident occurred while assisting Belknap County sheriff’s deputies with a broken-down vehicle in the intersection of Interstate 93, Exit 20, and routes 3-11. A woman across the road screamed for assistance, telling Paulhus when he arrived that her eight-month-old baby was choking and could not breathe. Paulhus flipped the baby over to perform the child’s Heimlich maneuver, succeeding in dislodging the item.
Tilton-Northfield EMS arrived to treat the baby and take her to a hospital for a followup evaluation.
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