Wendy Rega, Andrea Shepard, Molly St. Jeanne, Candice O’Neil and Sarah Elliott are members of the SAU90 (Hampton) School Board, which voted unanimously to submit a letter, reprinted here, in opposition to House Bill 115. Their letter is co-signed by members of the SAU 50 (Rye) School Board.

We write with grave concerns regarding the text of House Bill 115 and House Bill 675, both of which have now been incorporated into HB2 for approval by the House Finance Committee. If these bills should pass as-written, the detrimental impacts to the children of our beloved public schools will be immeasurable.

Diverting state tax dollars from our public schools in order to fund private and homeschool options would further erode our state’s already meager financial support of our public education system. This would simultaneously remove local control over costs from communities struggling to keep their schools afloat.

As readers may be aware, New Hampshire ranks last in the nation for providing public school funding, and our courts have repeatedly ruled that our state is failing to uphold its constitutional duty to adequately fund public education.

The intent of this piece is not to opine on the merits of school choice. Rather, it is an attempt to communicate, with urgency and immediacy, our pressing fear for the public education system that our population holds so dear. By passing these bills, our legislature is making a deliberate choice to take needed funds from the students of public schools and instead give those funds to wealthy families who have already demonstrated the ability and willingness to pay the cost of private options. This will cripple local school districts, including ours.

Approximately 85% of New Hampshire students attend public schools. Our tax dollars should be used to invest in these students rather than to subsidize the cost of an alternative education chosen by families who can already afford it. The cost of a universal voucher program, estimated by some to reach $100 million, could instead be used to fund building aid, provide special education services, offer free and reduced lunch, improve teacher recruitment and retention programs and lower taxes for local property taxpayers by increasing the amount of adequacy funding provided by the state to the towns.

If HB2 passes as it is currently written, our legislators will be making the intentional decision to force towns to find ways to offset the funding gap, resulting in both a lower quality education for our students and higher taxes for property owners.

Along with all SAU’s throughout the state, Hampton and Rye schools will experience devastating cuts to our budgets, all to the great detriment of the young minds and future leaders we seek to educate. What does a public education look like with enormous student-to-teacher ratios, large-scale staff layoffs, bare-bones curriculum, crumbling facilities and the elimination of sports, the arts and extra-curriculars?

What does a once-thriving community look like when its seniors, veterans and families are forced out because their property taxes have become untenable? Our already overburdened taxpayers will be stretched even thinner as we struggle to meet even the bare minimum of the educational experience. Simultaneously, local control will be stolen from districts who wish to raise the extra funds to maintain their schools.

Surely, this is not how we will preserve the New Hampshire advantage.

As a community of engaged voters, we are certain that our representatives in Concord share our goal of providing a high-quality public education to New Hampshire’s young minds. These young people will grow to become the workforce that enables our state to continue to run. We must all recognize the data-proven social and economic benefits that stem from prioritizing our schools and the deserving students who want only to learn.

As such, we implore you to protect our tax dollars, our children and our collective future by voting against the harmful language of HB115 and HB675 that has now been added to HB2.