Citizen in a RepublicNH House Testimony

HB1644

House · 2026 sessionRepublicanInterim study

Cooperative school district withdrawal rules

AI-generated

Permits a single district or town within a cooperative school district to initiate withdrawal proceedings, removes the committee determination step, and eliminates the supermajority vote that could block withdrawal.

permitting towns to unilaterally withdraw from a cooperative school district.Official record

Education - GeneralMunicipalitiesAI-generated

Division of testimonyComputed by this site

186 submissions

All 23 written submissions were individually written — no organized campaign detected.

Status

Referred to interim study (House) · March 11, 2026
  1. Introduced
  2. House
  3. Senate
  4. Governor
  5. Law
Sponsors, hearings & roll-call votes

The record · every submission as filed

186 submissions
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Ann Rettew
for Myself
Concord

This would be disruptive to cooperatives and would not be in best interests of students.

Oppose
Anne Onion
for Myself
Gilmanton

This would be a disaster for the other towns in such a district. Having at one point served on my town school board and then subsequently worked in schools later, the amount of time and money it would take to cope with such a situation would, at the bottom line , hurt all the students involved, as well as the staff, etc.

Oppose
Catharine Farkas
for Myself
Sanbornton

This is a terrible idea and veru detrimental to the other school districts in the SAU.

Oppose
Deborah Klein Walker
for Myself
Meredith

This is against local control...local communities should decide this.

Oppose
Hannah Meiselman
for Myself
Manchester

I strongly oppose HB 1644 because allowing unilateral withdrawal from cooperative school districts would destabilize public education across entire regions. Cooperative districts depend on shared responsibility and long-term planning; unilateral exit would harm students, undermine equity, and jeopardize the state’s obligation to provide an adequate education

Oppose
Katherine Morgan
for Myself
Durham

Cooperative School Districts only work if all members participate. To allow a single school to summarily withdraw from a Co-opoerative district will obviously throw the financial aspect of the district as well as class sizes and distribution of students into complete disarray. The withdrawing school would suffer in the same ways that the rest of the cooperative would. Vote NO

Oppose
Marjorie Porter
for Myself
HILLSBOROUGH

I live in Hillsborough, part of the Hillsboro-Deering Cooperative district, There is a movement now to have Deering leave the district. If they do, there will be some serious negative effects on Hillsborough. Hillsborough residents should be able to vote on this big change, as it affects both towns. Please ITL this bill. Thank you.

Oppose
Kerri Choate
for Myself
Rollinsford

I urge you to oppose this bill which could create chaos and destabilize cooperative school districts.

Oppose
Shirley Montgomery
for Myself
Hanover

I think this bill would is likely to disrupt the whole structure of the remaining cooperative, so I oppose it.

Oppose
Jane Walsh
for Myself
New london

Cooperative school districts are ones that include several communities that, at some point, chose to come together to find efficiencies and other benefits from working together. This bill would allow a single community to leave a cooperative district without giving the remaining communities any say in the matter. This kind of withdrawal (usually by one of the wealthier communities in the district) is likely to disrupt the whole structure of the remaining cooperative, to increase its per pupil costs and to leave its students with fewer resources.

Oppose
Nancy Miles
for Myself
Hanover

I oppose this bill as it would totally disrupt an already established cooperative school district if one of those schools could withdraw.

Oppose
James Hiltz
for Myself
Pembroke

This bill enables a single community to leave cooperative district they previously agreed to join to increase efficiency and offer other benefits via working together, without giving other communities in the cooperative any say in the matter, something that historically only benefits the wealthier district as they leave the cooperative, causing disruption to the whole cooperative district, increasing the per pupil cost, and leaving students with fewer resources. It seems like another small chipping away the right-wing members of our legislation continue to work on to try and destroy public education in our state.

Oppose
Megan Jackson
for Myself
Derry

My children go to school in Derry, and I do want the whole town to decide what my children do or don’t do in school. As a resident please oppose this. This is in acceptable.

Oppose
Giana Gelsey
for Myself
Madbury

This would allow one town to erode a cooperative district that was unified with a consensus, which violates the intent of a cooperative. This is rife for abuse and could send us right back to the era of segregated schools. I oppose.

Oppose
Emily Wrubel
for Myself
Hillsborough

We are in a cooperative school district. There should be a process for dissolving partnerships, not unilateral withdrawal. The size of the district, academics, staff, etc would be severely impacted with the loss of one partner. This would seriously impact the education of the students remaining in the district.

Oppose
Timothy Swaan
for Myself
N. Haverhill

I appreciate the opportunity to submit testimony on HB 1644. This bill offers a clearer and more direct process for individual towns to initiate review of withdrawal from a cooperative school district. In situations where governance, cost alignment, or educational needs have diverged, this added local agency may help surface and address long-standing concerns and improve accountability within cooperative structures. At the same time, I urge caution regarding the long-term stability of cooperative districts. Allowing unilateral withdrawal without a meaningful districtwide safeguard may create financial and operational risk for remaining member towns, particularly related to shared debt, special education services, transportation, and staffing. These impacts can be significant and are often borne disproportionately by smaller or less-resourced communities. As the committee considers HB 1644, I encourage careful attention to preserving appropriate guardrails that protect students, ensure fiscal stability for remaining towns, and maintain the collaborative benefits that cooperative school districts were designed to provide. While the bill creates clearer pathways for individual towns to withdraw, it does not provide parallel solutions to address how remaining cooperative districts are expected to absorb and manage the resulting financial and operational impacts. Thank you for your consideration.

Neutral
Richard DeMark
for Myself
Meredith

Cooperative school districts are ones that include several communities that, at some point, chose to come together to find efficiencies and other benefits from working together. This bill would allow a single community to leave a cooperative district without giving the remaining communities any say in the matter. This kind of withdrawal (usually by one of the wealthier communities in the district) is likely to disrupt the whole structure of the remaining cooperative, to increase its per pupil costs and to leave its students with fewer resources.

Oppose
Peter Satterfield
for Myself
Pembroke

The state government needs to stay in their lane. Let the towns and committees do what they need to do. I thought the republican ideal was to not to over govern. What happened to that philosophy ?

Oppose
Sierra Dolce
for Myself
Sandown

I am writing to OPPOSE this bill. This could significantly disrupt school district budgets and raise property taxes on those in cooperative school districts unnecessarily. Please stop this fight against public education.

Oppose
Lisa Ferrigno
for Myself
Newport

This bill could significantly disrupt school district budgets and raise property taxes on those in cooperative school districts

Oppose
Christine Hodsdon
for Myself
EXETER

This bill would interfere with a school district's ability to fully fund these schools and raise property taxes on those schools remaining.

Oppose
Victoria Flaherty
for Myself
Bedford

This bill is harmful to cooperative school districts, their students, teachers, funding, and educational standards. Allowing a town to make this choice creates an outrageous power imbalance between towns, threatening the accessibility of quality education, which is your job to uphold.

Oppose
Arwen Mellor
for Myself
Rindge

It’s a big decision should it not require a big majority?

Oppose
Benjamin Stinson
for Myself
Concord

Position recorded without written comment.

Oppose
Regan Lamphier
for Myself
Nashua

Position recorded without written comment.

Oppose