SB295

PUBLIC MONEY BELONGS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. If parents want to send their children to religious affiliate schools , private schools or home school they can pay for it themselves. Just like I did!

Providing taxpayer funds to any parent who wants to send their child to a private school only weakens public education. However, this bill makes that worse by providing $5000 to even wealthy parents who are already sending their children to private schools. The Education Voucher program was originally sold to us as a way to level the playing field, allowing those not able to send their children to a private school. Those of you who voted or agreed with that should therefore be voting AGAINST this bill, which makes taxpayers pay for the private education of wealthy individuals. Please vote AGAINST this bill that is harmful to the average citizen.

NO TO UNIVERSAL VOUCHERS FULL STOP. You already know the arguments against vouchers. With our current budget problem, vouchers are even more stupid and irresponsible. NO TO VOUCHERS. SUPPORT PUBLIC EDUCATION. THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN. REPEATEDLY. I OPPOSE THIS BILL

This bill is complete fiscal madness. Why should cash strapped households pay higher property taxes to subsidize wealthy kids going to elite private schools? Please vote no!

I am opposed to raising the income cap for Education Freedom Accounts, which would drain funding from our already inadequately funded public schools. The state needs to adequately fund public education first and above all else!!!! Public school students are being shortchanged by the state's longstanding failure to meet its financial obligations to public education.

I totally oppose the School Voucher Program. The income cap should not be removed - the wealthy have no need for assistance to afford their children's private school education. The voucher program has no accountability and will eventually bankrupt our public school system. Public funds to public schools.

Parents have made choices with regard to education for decades. If their preference is not the local public school, they determine what they can afford with or without assistance from their church or a scholarship program. Yes, this may involve cutting back on certain expenses, but this is what families have done by choice and without state funding.

New Hampshire has a duty to ensure that all of our public schools are high quality and funded appropriately. Our taxpayers and our public schools cannot afford to remove the income limit for private education vouchers.

I voted to fund PUBLIC education not to send my tax dollars to pay for an elite private school. Sending my property tax dollars to private schools will only mean that I have to pay even HIGHER property taxes so that the children in the public school down the street from me get an adequate education.

Oppose

NO to providing universal EFAs! Why are we giving breaks to the people who don’t need them? We know that the majority of people using EFAs are already finding the means to send their kids to private and religious schools and I’m not convinced that quality home schooling is happening in NH. There’s no accountability and it comes across as a handout. We don’t actually know how OUR money is being used.

The House Budget just passed with draconian cuts to the most vulnerable individuals in our state (elderly, Medicaid recipients, individuals with mental illness, children in state custody...). There is absolutely no justification to expand eligibility for "education freedom accounts" in this budget environment.

Can we please prioritize the students that need the most help, and not those already able to afford a good education.

There is no public accountability or transparency in the use of vouchers. The legislature keeps cutting services to people in need citing the fact that the revenues are tight this year. Under these circumstances, giving vouchers to wealthy people who are already sending their children to private school is hypocritical!

I do not support vouchers. Public money should support public schools

I urge you to vote against this bill. I am against vouchers in general and especially against raising the income eligibility to receive a voucher. Families who choose private and religious schools for their children are welcome to make that choice and pay for it. Vouchers, can be for very low income families (below the poverty line) who otherwise might not be able to make that choice. Public school is what our tax dollars need to support. NH should support and take pride in delivering a top notch public education for all children.

I support our public schools!

We need all the funding we can get for public schools. Our school budgets are being voted down because property tax is our only source of local funding. People who can afford to pay for alternative schooling should not be getting money intended for public schools.

PUBLIC MONEY FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. I’m tired of my tax dollars going toward unaccountable schools. They have no requirement to teach every child or meet any kind of standard. Just stop.

Expanding vouchers to anyone when you are trying to cut everything else is ridiculous. How can you justify it? Focus on funding public schools, and leave the voucher income limits in place.

Public dollars belong in public schools!

If a parent chooses to send their child to a private school, they should pay the entire cost including transportation. Public money is for public schools only!

Terrible

SB295 is yet another universal voucher bill, removing all income caps. New Hampshire cannot afford universal school vouchers. In light of budget shortfalls and cuts of essential services in the state budget by Republican legislators, it is fiscally irresponsible and reckless to expand an already expensive vouch program.We have a budget crisis in NH and a school funding crisis. Let's take care of these pressing matters now and put a stop to expanding the voucher program. No on SB295!

Can we stop with these school vouchers already! I'm so tired of paying for rich people to take advantage of my taxes to send their kids to preppy schools