Thursday, March 5th was a very challenging Session day. Why? The Republican Free Staters practically fell over themselves to defeat or table bills calling for accountability for their precious public education destroying school vouchers. Here’s a few examples:
HB 1578 was an effort brought forth by Democrats for the school voucher program to give quarterly reports listing the number of applications and withdrawals, use of funding along with parental reimbursements. In other words, transparency for public funds used in this out-of-control program! Rep. Rick Ladd (who scored an A on Liberty Alliance scorecard), Chairman of the Education Funding Committee, made the motion to “table” the bill, which passed 182-162. So, what does this mean? For that answer I turn to my colleague Rep. Anita Burroughs who wrote in her Substack article; “If a motion to table succeeds, debate on the bill ends immediately. Only a simple majority is required. If the bill is never taken off the table, it effectively dies.” And “Occasionally, however, a bill is removed from the table when one party realizes that changes in attendance have shifted the vote count and they suddenly have a chance to pass legislation that once seemed unwinnable.”
So, they killed the bill anyway. No transparency for the use of public funding.
HB 1264 was another Democrat effort at bringing accountability and transparency to the school voucher program. It also required the oversight committee to meet monthly and for these meetings to be live broadcast and recorded on the general court website. Since 2022, this wasteful program has gone from $8 million to a projected $52 million this year. In just under four years!
Rep. Kristin Noble, who thinks schools should be segregated, made a motion to table the bill. A roll call was requested and the bill was tabled, 186-165. Nope, no accountability for school vouchers. Business as usual.
HB 1820 sponsored by Democrats, would require the NH Dept. of Education to administer the education freedom account program, making it more accountable to auditors, lawmakers and NH citizens. At a projected cost of $52 million taxpayer dollars, having the NHDOE manage this program would give much needed accountability, oversight and transparency. Currently, this program is managed by Children's Scholarship Fund, which costs an additional $5 million each year. Rep. Noble again motioned to table this bill, which passed, 179-157. Nope, NHDOE won’t be overseeing public funds that are rerouted to private school vouchers.
HB 1834 limits the number of school vouchers allowed through 2027. Estimates put 13,750 students in the program next year, up from this year’s count of 10,510. This was a Democrat sponsored bill looking to protect the already overburdened property owner. And, wanting only to protect their voucher program, Rep. Noble again motions to table the bill, which passes, 180-157. Nope, come one, come all to the Republican school voucher trough.
Two other Democrat sponsored bills, HB 1402 and HB 1403 would codify into statute the NH credentialing standards for (respectively) superintendents and school business administrators. This pertained to knowledge, skills and competency to perform those duties. HB 1402 was tabled, 184-150 by Rep. Noble and HB 1403 was tabled, 196-152 by Rep. Margaret Drye (B+ on LA scorecard).
HB 1635 sponsored by Republicans, reduces the amount of suicide prevention training administrators, teachers and staff receive from once a year to every other year. The committee heard concerns from mental health associations, a parent who lost a child to suicide and organizations working to reduce suicide. Testimony online was 238 who opposed this bill with 12 who supported it. Not caring about children who are now out of the womb, the bill passed, 183-167. Did you know what the second leading cause of death for people aged 10-24 in NH is? Yup, you guessed it. Suicide.
Fun fact: one of the Republican sponsors is an EMT. Go figure . . .
There were plenty more good bills that were either killed or tabled (same ending, basically) and terrible bills that were passed. But those are for a future article.
In the meantime, be sure to get out next week and vote at your town meetings. Look over your warrant articles. Vet your candidates. Remember, the Republican Free Staters start at the local level; school boards, select and planning boards, trustees . . .