By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – Education Freedom Accounts and mandatory masking and vaccinations at public colleges and universities were the subject of multiple bills heard during a day-long House Education Committee meeting on Wednesday.
Collecting and providing data from parents and students choosing the new Education Freedom Accounts, also known as vouchers, required masking and vaccinations among public institutions of higher learning, and offering information on registering to vote among special ed students were discussed.
The committee was told the state had budgeted $129,000 for the new Education Freedom Accounts for low-income families. But there have been so many applications that now that it is estimated it will cost $8.1 million and mean hundreds of children will be leaving their public schools and getting into a voucher-like program to pay up to $8,000 a year for private schools or homeschooling costs.
The bills related to COVID-19 brought out some opposed to required vaccinations at schools, as well.
MASKS AND VAX REQUIREMENTS
Representatives of public higher education institutions in New Hampshire said they need the flexibility to adjust their approaches to COVID-19 to keep their institutions open for in-person learning, not legislation prohibiting them from requiring masks and vaccinations, as proposed by state Rep. Peter Torosian, R-Atkinson under House Bill 1233.
The bill was heard alongside a bill that would protect that flexibility.
House Bill 1332, sponsored by Rep. Joe Schapiro, D-Keene, would consider these congregate-living schools within an exception, like nursing homes and hospitals, under the recent law for medical freedom in immunization, thus allowing the campuses to choose their own COVID-19 requirements.
Some testified that state-funded institutions should not be requiring either masks or vaccines as a matter of policy and freedom.
The University of New Hampshire, Plymouth State University, and Keene State College do not require vaccinations of their students although some limited programs like nursing require it to be included in some settings like hospitals where vaccinations are required.
Vaccination rates are at more than 80 percent on average, throughout the system, said Tom Cronin, director of government relations for the University System of New Hampshire and University of New Hampshire.
He noted they do require masks in classrooms and need to be able to have that flexibility to allow the campus to function in a healthy, in-person manner.
In total, more than 10,000 students live in dorms on those campuses which are now open for in-person classes. Students who are unvaccinated must isolate and quarantine immediately if exposed or sick. And there are regular testing requirements on campus.
Cronin said most students support the mask requirements, with religious and health exemptions, and there have been no serious disciplinary cases involving students unwilling to wear masks to attend classes, he said.
Shannon Reid, director of government affairs for the Community College System of NH, said many of the programs they offer require hands-on programs for high-demand jobs that are needed now in society. Prevention from COVID-19 and flexibility to adjust approaches are critical to keeping the doors open, she said.
Carla Smith of the New Hampshire Nurses Association said she feels it important to keep flexibility with the institutions rather than the government to safeguard their community as they feel is important.
She noted a study that shows hospital costs exceeding $256,000 for a COVID-19 case in an ICU and $62,000 for non-ICU hospitalizations.
“We can minimize these costs. That is what vaccinations do,” she said.
But Ed Groves of Hooksett, who has been supporting other “freedom bills” in Concord, said it is time to “stop the torture of kids” wearing masks for the past two years.
He said the vaccines do not work. He did not offer evidence.
Groves said because his daughter is unvaccinated and at KSC she was relegated to isolation as a freshman.
“These kids have enough to do,” Groves said, “without having to be vaccinated and wearing a mask.”
Sally Staude of Dover argued that there is no science to support the wearing of masks to slow the spread of COVID-19 and she said she would provide written evidence to the committee for them to consider but did not have any at the time of the hearing.
VOTING HELP FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION STUDENTS/HIGH SCHOOL VOTER REGISTRATION
The committee also heard that special education students would be taught about whether they wanted to register to vote and the importance of civic community engagement as part of their individual education plans as they approach leaving the system, under a bipartisan bill, HB 1594.
The second part of the bill also allows for schools to have voter registrations available in their schools.
When the school prepares to discharge these teens – the most anxiety-producing time for them and their parents – there should be a conversation as part of their independent education plan to tell them about access and rights to voting, said state Rep. Mark Paige, D-Exeter.
It would not require them to register to vote, but “start a conversation,” Paige said.
For “political nerds” such as himself, he said it would be great for these students, reaching adulthood to “feel the thrill of voting.”
At the hearing Wednesday, most spoke in support of the bill.
But Kathleen Cintavey of Dover, a lifelong educator representing herself, said, “I believe we need to let civic responsibilities be civic responsibilities and not bring them into the school.”
She said educators are already burdened with complicated IEPs and there “are a wide variety of disabilities and some students may have a difficulty in the voting process and selecting the best candidate.”
She said ceding a civic responsibility to schools might be best left to the individuals and their families and she cautioned legislators.
She also said she has helped register people to vote in Dover and helped with various levels of understanding and in general, there is a lot of help available in communities.
“I hesitate to see parental rights further eroded and give more and more power to our schools,” she said.
Liz Tentarelli, president of the League of Women Voters in NH, which has defended voting rights for 102 years, spoke in support of the bill.
She was particularly pleased with the second part of the bill to hold in-person voting opportunities in schools and said in the past few years there have been examples of that offered or attempted in schools in Conway, Nashua, and Laconia.
She said the bill could be helpful also to students without disabilities but who still face barriers to voting.
“I think this is a wonderful bill to include this in the IEP plan so they understand the accommodations available,” she said.
Young voters are the least likely group to vote in this country, she said, though that is improving over the last six years.
Asked if the LWV has tried any outreach to parents with disabilities and students, Tentarelli said “no,” though they have developed student-focused brochures, but they require someone to distribute them in the schools.
Bonnie Dunham of Merrimack, the parent of a son with disabilities, supported the bill. She said it aligns well with the purposes of an IEP and directing students to independent living, “including learning how to be a responsible adult of which a voting member is an important part.”
Dunham said it would fight against the “culture of low expectations.”
Karen Rosenberg, the new policy director at the Disability Rights Center – NH encouraged support for the bill noting that using the existing 504 and IEP structure to get students to become fully engaged citizens was an excellent idea.
“Voting is essential to citizenship,” she said.
REQUIRED PARENT SURVEYS FOR THOSE CHOOSING EDUCATION FREEDOM ACCOUNTS
House Bill 1637 was also heard. It would require parents of public school students leaving for Freedom Education Accounts to submit a survey explaining why.
The state is allowing low-income parents to opt out of public education and get funding money to attend other schools.
The goal, said sponsor and state Rep. Brodie Deshaies, R-Wolfeboro, is to find out why parents are “upset” and leaving the public education system. He said the bill would help to make public education more responsive and transparent and help teach school districts what is not working.
“It’s tough to improve without knowing,” Deshaies said.
He said he did not have questions for the questionnaire, would consider an amendment making those surveys anonymous, and would consider surveys for all parents, not just those leaving for EFA.
Asked if it could be considered voluntary rather than required, he said it would be “more than fair.”
He said he does not believe his bill is ready for “prime time,” when concluding his remarks.
Matt Southerton of the Children’s Scholarship Fund said the bill as written is conditional upon acceptance of an EFA. He said there are already some questionnaires and 268 responses. Most, he said, just want options that better fit their students.
“It’s really about choice,” he said.
EDUCATIONAL ASSESSMENT WITH EFA AND EFA OVERSIGHT
A bill that would require a state education assessment test to be taken for all Education Freedom Account students was also heard.
House Bill 1115 would be used to see if the students are doing better in private or religious schools than in the public schools they left, but it would not require any minimum test grades to continue with the EFA.
Rep. Patricia Cornell D-Manchester, the prime sponsor, said all public students are required to take this assessment test now.
Asked if homeschoolers would need to do a similar assessment, she said she would have to think about that.
“I’m not sure,” she said.
She said this would be a measure of whether or not these changes are beneficial and that students are doing better for themselves at these alternative education opportunities.
Sarah Scott, director of grassroots operations for Americans for Prosperity, opposed the bill. She said it would force parents into a single assessment rather than a choice of three now allowed under the EFA law, including a portfolio review.
“Kids really learn in so many different ways,” she said.
Another bill sponsored by Rep. Patricia Cornell, D-Manchester, House Bill 1376, was amended to correct the proper RSA and the intent of it is to ensure that parents who take an EFA are waiving their rights to public special education. They could receive those rights if they re-enroll in public education, she acknowledged.
Asked if there has been an issue of parents wrongly assuming that these schools had such special education programs, Cornell said “yes.”
Asked if this bill was intended as a material change in law or to provide clarity she said it was the latter.
House Bill 1670, offered by Rep. Bonnie Ham, R-North Woodstock, requires the stop of payments to schools receiving EFA funds, should the student terminate, for whatever reason.
She was asked how to deal with schools shouldering up-front items for the student’s education and with possible delays in delivery after leaving, would they be reimbursed, Ham was asked.
She said if any expenditure had to do with a student’s education, she thinks it should be reimbursed. She said she would welcome a clarifying amendment.
The final bill of the day, House Bill 1669, would require the Department of Education to administer the EFA program, which was also sponsored by Rep. Ham rather than the scholarship organization.
She said it is going to become part of the overall educational opportunities and said she feels strongly that DOE should oversee it along with public education oversight
She said there is more accountability and it can potentially have an impact on local schools.
“I think we need to bring it in-house,” and it should not be outsourced.
She said she was worried at first about whether the EFA would take away from public schools she came to believe that “The majority of us wanted to try this.”
Ham said she hopes it exceeds her expectations and I “want it to get off to a very good start.”
She said the state has a fiduciary responsibility to account for the program and she noted administrative costs are high noting her own experience serving her local school budget committee. “We spend $9 million for 288 children” in her town, she said. “We spend more on the school than anything else in the town.”
There were no votes on any of the bills heard Wednesday.
The committee has 102 bills to take care of by March 17 and so far, they have voted on nine. They plan to vote on seven early bills on Feb. 9 and complete their early bills. All the bills heard Wednesday need to be reported out of the committee no later than March 10.