Above, people opposed to House Bill 115 also attended Thursday’s public hearing at the Legislative Office Building in Concord. Paula Tracy photo.
By GARRY RAYNO, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD — Removing the salary cap from the Education Freedom Account program will expand alternative education opportunities to all the state’s children, supporters said Thursday at a public hearing.
But even more people testified and sent electronic testimony to the House Education Funding Committee that House Bill 115 is fiscally irresponsible, would give taxpayer money to people who don’t need it, and an attempt to defund public education with a program that fails to meet basic accountability and transparency needed.
And many people testifying in the all-afternoon public hearing said until the state adequately funds public education and special education services, there should be no expansion of the four-year old program beyond its current boundaries.
The bill would remove the sentence setting the current salary cap at 350 percent of the federal poverty level from the EFA statute meaning any parent regardless of income would be able to receive a state taxpayer funded grant that averages about $5,200 this school year.
Debate on the bill drew parents and children in the program who touted its value, parents and students who praised public schools and asked the state to adequately fund public education, school board members, political and religious advocates and others filling three different rooms in the Legislative Office Building.
Many of those testifying said decades of downshifting education costs to local property taxpayers has continually raised the costs for local taxpayers creating challenging options for many school districts, especially those that struggle to provide an education to their students.
The program would siphon money to private and religious schools and homeschoolers and away from public schools who need more money, not less, opponents said.
But supporters said every child deserves the best educational option for him or her.
Rep. Valerie McDonnell, R-Salem, the bill’s prime sponsor, said her bill is an attempt to fund students not the system, a phrase repeated often Thursday.
“Education attainment should not be limited to a student’s income or zip code,” she said. “This modest bill would have significant benefits for every family (who would be able) to choose the best education model to fit their child’s needs.”
Under her bill, she said high school students would be able to pay for Advanced Placement testing allowing them to reduce the time they spend in college, making it more attainable and affordable and reducing the need for more higher education loans.
She said the bill would save taxpayers money when a student leaves public school for the program, she estimated at $19,000, but others testifying objected to her statement saying the vast majority of students in the program, and who would enroll if there were no income cap, have never been in public schools and never drawn taxpayer dollars.
McDonnell said many of her constituents — parents and educators — are “crying out to us for help and it is our obligation as legislators to help them. If we cannot help meet the educational needs, what are we doing here?”
But Dover School Board member Micaela Demeter said the bill would not save taxpayers any money.
“This attempt to expand the voucher system in New Hampshire is a spending decision our state cannot afford to make,” she said. “It is an irresponsible use of taxpayer funds.”
You have to assume every private or religious homeschool student would enroll in the program, who are not receiving funding, now will be a new liability for taxpayers, Demeter said.
In her district, the special education costs are $5.8 million, while the state will reimburse the city $1.8 million, which requires Dover property taxpayers to cover $4.2 million, noting the city’s share grows every year.
“This (bill) is not a must do,” she said, “it is a want to do.”
Currently the state law has a cap at 350 percent of the federal poverty level to participate in the EFA program.
Under that guideline, a family of four could earn $112,525 and a family of two $74,025, but if the bill passes there would be no limit on a family’s income to draw state tax money from the program.
Other states that have moved to “universal voucher” systems have found almost all of the new enrollees will be students currently in religious or private schools or being homeschooled. The parents of those students are in essence given a subsidy to help pay the cost of private or religious schools, or homeschooling, they had paid for themselves.
The program was approved as part of the 2022-2023 budget package and began in the fall of 2021 with 1,635 students costing $8 million when the Department of Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut had predicted it would be $300,000, and grew to 3,025 students costing $14.7 million in the second year, and to 5,255 students costing $22 million last year and to 5,321 students and $28 million this school year.
Without a salary cap, the EFA program has the potential to cost the state over $100 million in analysis done by Reaching Higher NH, a public education advocacy organization.
The money to give parents grants that average about $5,200 per student in the program comes from the Education Trust Fund, which was created after the Supreme Court’s Claremont education funding suit decisions 30 years ago, provides nearly all state aid to school districts and charter schools. The trust fund currently has about a $200 million surplus, but that is projected to be reduced to about $125 million surplus at the end of this fiscal year as the money going into the trust fund from state revenues is $58.3 million below what budget writers estimated would be half-way through the 2025 fiscal year. The state is currently facing a significant deficit like it hasn’t seen since the great recession 15 years ago.
But supporters said they wanted other families to have the experiences their children did as they thrived in alternative settings after either failing or not performing up to their capabilities in public schools.
One person said students who graduate from public high schools in the state, have many choices where to go to college in order to best fit their interest and students in K to the 12th grade ought to have the same opportunities as it will foster competition and improve all education.
Gabrielle Jette of Manchester said she has three children and “as a mother you want to try to give your children the best opportunity for them that fits their individual needs.”
She said they were not happy with the public schools in their community and instead enrolled their children in the Saint Francis School in Litchfield where they have a “really holistic education” which has been good for their children.
“We sit just above the income limit to quality for the EFA benefit,” Jette said. “We make it work but it is not easy, we’ve had to cut things.”
Expanding the program would really help her family and others like hers, she said, adding she would like to see every student benefit from the best education for each one.
Others told of having their children bullied and some parents said they were not happy with the quality of the public schools.
But Louise Spencer of Concord and one of the founders of the Kent Street Coalition, noted they heard some compelling stories from parents and children, but noted they had not heard from public school teachers or students because they could not be there because they have to be in school.
“Hearing major criticism of public schools breaks my heart,” she said, “because they mean so much to those who attend them and their families.”
That criticism does not take into account the challenges public schools have and the fact that New Hampshire does not adequately fund education, Spencer said.
A number of people testifying noted the state is either 49th or 50th in the country for state aid to public education.
“Without adequate funding, you cannot address the needs of every child, that every child deserves,” Spencer said, “and should be (able to receive) in our public schools.”
Others said the bill would not help the low-income families it was touted to serve when the program was established, but will make inequalities worse as it would more benefit those who are the richest.
Rep. Mark Vallone, D-Epping, said he is not opposed to EFAs, but his opposition is to have a family that will spend $52,000 for tuition to Phillips Exeter Academy receive a taxpayer funded grant.
“I find it outrageous that the taxpayers of Epping are spending taxpayers’ dollars to fund someone to go to Phillips Exeter with tuition of $52,000,” Vallone said. “You are opening Pandora’s Box with no limits.”
According to the electronic filing system, 770 people support the bill, 3,253 oppose the bill and three are neutral.
The committee did not make an immediate recommendation on the bill.
Garry Rayno may be reached at garry.rayno@yahoo.com.
