Empowering Voters
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Public Education in New Hampshire -- state League study 2017 to present
November 20, 2023: NH Superior Court ruling that state’s current funding of schools falls short of providing an “adequate education” and that SWEPT needs work too. Read the InDepthNH report here.
Public school standards the ED 306 regulations are being revised, will go to state board of education in Dec 2023 or Jan 2024. Read more about them from Reaching Higher NH in this November post.
May 2023: Updates to public school standards are being considered by the state Board of Education, but little publicity has been given to allow the public to comment.
2023: What is the situation with the NH school vouchers program? Best source of up to date information on the status of these “Education Freedom Acocunts” is Reaching Higher NH. Visit their website here. This video from Reaching Higher NH (Jan. 2023) explains where we were at the start of this legislative session and how an expansion of the program will affect schools and taxpayers. Watch here.
July/August 2022: In New Hampshire, public education is a major issue. The League of Women Voters Education Fund will highlight the issues in an ad campaign on August 28. Look for full page ads in the Union Leader, Concord Monitor, and Valley News. Here is the top portion of that ad, and here is the pdf link to the entire ad. Please share it.
This project was funded by a grant from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. Voters are encouraged to find out where their elected officials stand on public education issues.
Background:
Why Do We have Public Education (Federal and NH perspectives)? This document is 4 pp long and includes a page of endnotes. 9/18/17 Fact Sheet.
The state board proposed at Convention on June 3, 2017, that the League undertake a study of education issues in NH. The membership in attendance approved the concept of the study. Click here for the pdf of the study scope and introduction as determined by the steering committee at their first meeting on July 18, 2017. Phase One consensus was held at four locations around the state in Dec 2017 and early Jan 2018. Phase two was stalled by Covid.
Op-ed by LWVNH board member & Ed. Action Committee chair Janet Ward. May 16, 2022 in Concord Monitor. Click here to read the op-ed on public education.
Op-ed in the Concord Monitor by LWVNH member and teachers union president on March 19, 2022, shows some tiny steps forward in pro-public education thinking. Click here to read the article.
March 12, 2022 school district meeting in Croydon NH shows what happens when voters don’t show up to keep the extremists in check. Numerous articles; here’s one. The good news is that at a special school district meeting in April, voter turnout was huge and the original budget was restored. The Croydon school was not shut down.
Funding Education in NH
Earlier report issued by the Carsey Center for Public Policy. A Report from the Commission to Study School Funding, RSA 193-E2-e Achieving Greater Equity for NH Students and Taxpayers. presented to the Legislature Dec. 2020. Read the report here.
Feb. 14, 2022. Two new plans to help the education funding disparity issue in NH. Read the article here.
Upcoming legislation for 2022; expanded school voucher program. This would be local taxpayers funded. (NH Bulletin article by Ethan DeWitt, Nov. 19, 2021). Read the article here. More on this bill from an InDepth NH article by T.P.Caldwell here. UPDATE: The NH House tabled this bill January 6! Whew. Possible but unlikely it will come back in 2022.
June 25, 2021 — Governor Sununu signed the state budget, which of course includes funding for public education. Read this report from Reaching Higher NH about the serious implications of this biennial budget on public schools and towns. https://reachinghighernh.org/2021/06/25/lawmakers-pass-budget-with-significant-implications-for-public-education-in-new-hampshire/
March 18, 2021–The Senate Education Committee passed a very similar school voucher bill SB130 with amendments, along party lines, then tabled it. Later it was included in the biennial budget, never coming up for a full vote in the Senate nor getting the Governor to sign in. League objects to the process as much as we do to the content.
Report of the Commission to Study School Funding.
The Commission released its final report on Dec. 1, 2020. You may read the pdf here: https://carsey.unh.edu/sites/default/files/media/2020/12/final_report_forcommission_v5_12012020.pdf
Lawsuit by ConVal School District over state’s failure to adequately fund public education, filed 3/13/19. Read the summary here, with links to the court documents. [update May 2021: about a dozen more school districts have joined the suit]
June 5, 2019 school funding On Wednesday June 5, 2019, Cheshire Superior Court ruled that the state’s formula for funding education is unconstitutional.
The core of the decision is that RSA 198-40a II(a), (which sets the cost of baseline adequacy at $3,636 per student) is unconstitutional. The opinion examines the creation of that formula by a Joint Legislative Committee in 2008 and finds that the Joint Committee’s analysis was incomplete, arbitrary, and illogical in a number of respects. In light of these numerous defects, the Court concluded that the formula is so flawed that it is unconstitutional as it is currently applied to ConVal and the other plaintiff school districts, as well as all school districts in the state.
The Court did not agree to the plaintiff districts’ request to essentially have the Court rewrite the adequacy aid formula. The Court also did not reach the question about the validity of the State’s definition of adequacy, although it did note some of the inconsistencies and gaps in the definition. The Court re-stated the principle from the Claremont II decision that the NH Constitution requires that the taxes used to fund an adequate education must be proportional and reasonable. However, the Court did not issue any rulings about whether the current system violates those requirements. Instead, the Court stated that the next step must be for the Legislature to determine the true cost of a constitutionally adequate education and then fund it.
Pre-2021 work on school funding:
Legislative committee to study Education Funding and Adequacy presented their report on Nov. 1, 2018
July 20, 2018 Advancing NH Public Education released this data on how NH funds public education, compared with other states.
Dr. Mark Joyce gave a presentation to the joint study committee on education funding on 10/1/17 and was kind enough to share it with League. Includes background on the Claremont court cases and timeline of NH’s commitment to funding public education.
In addition to the Claremont court decisions of 1993 and 1997, a NH Supreme Court decision in 2016 affecting Dover and a number of other rapidly growing school districts affirmed the state’s responsibility to fund education. This article explains the Dover decision.
Regarding the NH legislature’s funding of public education: “Where the Money Comes From” and “Where the Money Goes.”
For a lengthy explanation with sources (105 pp) of the Claremont school funding court cases, this is an excellent resource. “Claremont I and II – Were They Rightly Decided, and Where Have They Left Us?” Authors are John M. Lewis, Associate Justice of the New Hampshire Superior Court from 2001-2013; Chair of New Hampshire’s State Board of Education from 1997 to 2001, and Stephen E. Borofsky, Managing Director of the law firm of Borofsky, Amodeo-Vickery & Bandazian P.A.
For a detailed background of education in NH, some members may wish to read this 17 pp document from the NH Center fore Public Policy Studies. “Lessons from New Hampshire: What We Can Learn from the History of the State’s Role in School Finance – 1642-1998.” Author: Douglas E. Hall, Exec Director of NH Center for Public Policy Studies.
History of Education Fact Sheets
Why Do We have Public Education (Federal and NH perspectives)? This document is 4 pp long and includes a page of endnotes. 9/18/17 Fact Sheet.
Roles and Responsibilities 8/13/17 fact sheet explains the various levels of education oversight (federal, state, local including boards and government agencies). <files/ed_fs_8-3-17_roles_responsibilities.pdf>
For a detailed background of education in NH, some members may wish to read this 17 pp document from the the NH Center fore Public Policy Studies. Lessons from New Hampshire: What We Can Learn from the History of the State’s Role in School Finance — 1642 – 1998 Author: Douglas E. Hall, Executive Director of New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies
From the School Superintendents Assn, a national organization, comes this Resolution in Support of Public Education.
Pre-K education consensus
This document contains background and updated information about the status of pre-kindergarten public education. Four survey questions are included at the end of the document.
Only current League of Women Voters NH members may participate in this consensus process. Please read the information, check out other information on this webpage if you wish, then send the answers to the four questions to the League’s email included with the questions.
Deadline for participation was April 15, 2020. One email per member please. Emails received from non-members will be discarded. (Given the Covid19 pandemic that overlapped this consensus process, the state League board will likely hold in-person consensus meetings at a future date.)
Community Profiles
This very detailed report on education (assessment scores, costs, graduation rate, etc.) and community demographics was prepared by Reaching Higher NH. You can click on your school district and the graphs compare your district with your county and with NH as a whole. Great stuff!
Study Meetings
Sat., May 18, 2019 LWVNH convention had a panel discussion on ways that NH schools are “thinking outside the box” when it comes to meeting the college and career readiness needs of students. For those who missed the conference, we audio taped the panel presentation. It can be accessed on Youtube. Grab your knitting or whatever and give it a listen. Listen here.
The panel was facilitated by Doug Cullen M.Ed., Certified Master of Career Services, Manager of Career Services at Pinkerton Academy in Derry, and co-author of “New Hampshire Extended Learning Opportunity Program Design Handbook. “Helping us understand “Learn Everywhere” under consideration by the State Board of Education is Jessica Rodriguez, MA, of Reaching Higher NH. She is the Director of the NH Alliance for College & Career Readiness.
Also joining us from Reaching Higher NH is Liz Canada, M.Ed., Director of Policy and Practice.
Joy Gobin, M.Ed., the Extended Learning Opportunities Coordinator for Lebanon High School who also oversees Running Start courses and just received an award from Gov. Sununu given by River Valley Community College as the Running Start Champion, will discuss Extended Learning Opportunities and also Running Start/Dual Enrollment (a high school/community college co-enrollment program).
Feb. 20, 2019 the LWVNH-Southern Rockingham County held a meeting with SAU 55 school budget committee member Mike Mascola to learn more about how the budget is developed for the Timberlane school district and what some of the challenges are that face the district right now. Read the meeting summary here.
Early Childhood Education Fact Sheets
The steering committee will post here fact sheets for members to use during the study process. Each fact sheet will be dated and the name or initials of the preparer will be included should questions arise or correction be needed. Resources will be given as links within the pdf. Simply click on the title to read the pdf.
A success story in Oregon, November 2020. These moms fought for universal preschool in their Oregon county — and won. ‘It’s like a dream come true for so many people’ By Chelsea Cirruzzo
https://www.thelily.com/these-moms-fought-for-universal-preschool-in-their-oregon-county-and-won/
March 21, 2019: Union Leader Op-Ed by Ardis Olson MD discusses a NH study of ACEs and makes 3 recommendations: (1)voluntary, evidence-based, home visiting. These programs provide professionally trained home visitors who work in partnership with expectant parents and parents of babies and toddlers to ensure safe home environments, promote healthy growth and development, and provide key connections for families to needed services in their communities. (2) Family Resource Centers work in communities to create the conditions that promote healthy development and family well-being. They are built on a research-based framework of family support, which focuses on helping families build their own strengths as well as access resources in their communities. (3) making effective early childhood education more available.
New report from the Rand corporation, 2019. A 2017 RAND report, Investing in the Early Years: The Costs and Benefits of Investing in Early Childhood in New Hampshire, documented the substantial share of children in New Hampshire who are at risk of adverse developmental outcomes because of low family resources and other factors that can compromise healthy development in the first few years of life. The report also indicated that New Hampshire would benefit from further investments in two types of evidence-based early childhood interventions: home visiting and preschool education. The goals of the follow-on study documented in this report were to examine the variation in the need for early childhood investments in communities across New Hampshire, the current investments under way at the local level and how they match with underlying needs, and where there are opportunities for further strategic investments in the state’s early childhood system, particularly evidence-based home visiting and preschool education.
Copyright keeps us from posting the entire 35 pp report here.
League survey of NH school districts offering publicly funded Pre-K classes to students without special needs. Jan. 2019. Posted 1/9/19.
Study committee visit to UNH pre-school, Nov. 2018. Read the report about this UNH early childhood center, used to train teachers and model approaches to early childhood care and education. Read the report here. 3 pp. Posted 1/9/19.
Study committee visit to Bartlett NH public pre-K, Oct. 2018. Read the report about this new public program, offered in the local elementary school, and how it came to be. Posted 1/10/19.
Newspaper article: Bartlett NH votes for public pre-K program (March 2018). Posted June 11, 2018.
Jan. 5, 2019 from AP press release: The University of New Hampshire is getting nearly $4 million to research the development of a plan for a comprehensive and coordinated early childhood care and education system.
The Preschool Development Grant from the Department of Health and Human Services was announced by U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan.
They said the federal funding will help expand preschool programs to more families, and that access to such high-quality education is essential to not only the children’s future success but the strength of the state as a whole.
Kearsarge/Sunapee area study committee did this research as a kick-off to phase 2 of the study. Early Childhood Education 11-13-17
On the NH Dept. of Education website is a multi-page pdf about early childhood education titled NH Early Learning Standards. This is a 2015 revision of the original 2005 printed version, a project of the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, Division for Children, Youth and Families, Child Development Bureau and the New Hampshire Department of Education.
Vermont offers voluntary pre-K programs free to families.
Kimberley Nesbitt PhD, one of the presenters at the May 19 conference, recommends this report: The Current State of Scientific Knowledge on Pre-Kindergarten Effects. Link posted 4/30/18.
A 16 pp summary is here.
Education Conference May 19, 2018
Huge thank you to the presenters and the attendees at our League conference on education.
The morning focus was on the importance of pre-Kindergarten education, with several expert speakers (see below). In the afternoon we learned about charter schools in NH.
An executive summary of the presentations can be read here.
Speakers were: Kimberly Nesbitt, Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at UNH
Jackie Cowell, Director, Early Learning New Hampshire
Christina D’Allesandro, NH State Director of MomsRising
Kate Rogers, Early Childhood Special Education Director, State of Vermont Agency of Education
Rebecca Woitkowski, Early Childhood Policy Coordinator, New Futures/Kids Count, and Lindsay Hanson, Government Relations Manager, Save the Children Action Network-NH
Matt Southerton, President, New Hampshire Alliance for Public Charter Schools, and Matora Fiorey Ph.D, Co-Founder and Director of Surry Village Charter School near Keene
Public Kindergarten NH guidelines
With a brand new batch of kindergartners going to school this week, the NH Dept. of Education has created a new page with curriculum guidelines, based on a bill passed earlier in 2018 specifically calling for “play-based” curriculum. Visit the “Kindergarten Toolkit” web page to learn more: posted by LWVNH 9/1/18
Charter Schools Fact Sheets
Update Nov 8, 2019 Read this article from the Concord Monitor about the NH Legislature’s decision to not accept the federal grant described in August 2019 entry below.
August 2019–federal grant awarded to NH charter schools. Union Leader article 8/22/19
Note that charters in NH are public schools, with funding from the state.
Report on charter school facilities in NH. In spring 2017, the National Charter School Resource Center (NCSRC), the Colorado League of Charter Schools (the League), the New Hampshire Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NHAPCS) and the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (the Alliance) collaborated to collect data and information about charter school facilities and facilities expenditures in the state of New Hampshire. Posted 5/18/18.
The Brookings Institute studied funding of charter schools and their impact on local school districts. Read the report. Not sure how parallel the Durham NC experience is with NH, but it worth considering the premise. Posted 5/23/18
How do charter schools operate in NH? Posted 2/9/18.
VLACS, the NH online charter school (often used by students in regular schools to take a course or two they can’t get in their own schools) Fact sheet Posted 2/4/18
“Report from the Commission to Study Issues Relating to Students Receiving Special Education Services While Attending a Chartered Public School” 2016. This 200 pp document can be accessed as a pdf on the general court’s website.
Higher Education Fact Sheets
“65 by 25” is a bold plan to improve the workforce readiness of NH’s students. Read the flyer here.
Dec. 2018 report by the Community College System of NH. League asked to observe this presentation to legislators, and we here present our notes. In the opinion of the League member taking notes, the Community College System is a vital and vibrant link in public education in our state. Click here for the pdf.
NH’s public college/university tuition –both in state and out of state– as compared to other states. Click here for the chart
From the same source, a chart of tuition and fees at the 2-year public colleges nationwide. Again, NH is the second most expensive in the country. Two year colleges The information was compiled and published on the website of © 2018 The College Board | PSAT/NMSQT is a registered trademark of the College Board and National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
Are NH’s Community Colleges most expensive in nation? Posted Dec. 29, 2017 NH ranked most expensive for community college Apr 28, 2017 BY: CCNH-LFDA Highlights (Citizens Count NH)
According to a new report, New Hampshire has the most expensive community colleges in the nation. The report ranked states based on the net price of two-year public colleges, as reported to the U.S. Department of Education. According to the report, “Net price is the total cost of college + including not just tuition but also textbooks, transportation, and living expenses + minus any state, federal, and institutional grants or scholarships the student receives.”
Net price varies based on a person’s income, since low income students receive more financial aid. For every income bracket, however, New Hampshire community colleges had the highest net price: about $14,500 for annual income under $30,000 and about $19,000 for all other income brackets.
Vermont was close behind New Hampshire, ranking third or fourth highest in each income bracket. Maine scored sixth highest in most income brackets. Massachusetts ranked near the middle of all states. The least expensive states varied based on income bracket, but Michigan, Mississippi, and Hawaii all consistently ranked among the five least expensive states for community college.
“Our cost of living and the lack of state support is the differentiating factor without a doubt,” said Ross Gittell, the chancellor of the Community College System of NH. “I can’t argue with the fact that many other states have a more generous aid program and that makes it more challenging for our students. This report highlights that challenge.” However, the report used net price data from the 2014-2015 school year. The community college system in New Hampshire lowered tuition the following year. Tuition has stayed flat since then, while other states have raised prices.
New Hampshire community colleges have also been ranked in the top ten among states for the quality of education they offer.
The report came from the Institute for College Access & Success, a nonprofit dedicated to making college more affordable.
from NHPR, Jan. 16, 2018: University System Expands Free Tuition Program for Qualifying In-State Students The University System of New Hampshire is expanding a program offering four years of free tuition to in-state students who qualify for federal Pell grants. [note: The Pell Grant is awarded to thousands of eligible students annually. Most recipients come from families where the annual household income falls below $25,000.]
The program, known as “Granite Guarantee,” began last year at the University of New Hampshire. It’ll now expand to cover Keene State College and Plymouth State University. Those schools will begin covering tuition for first-year students enrolling next fall.
Keene State College estimates about a third of its in-state students will qualify for the program. “Higher education for New Hampshire students is critical to fulfilling our state’s workforce needs, and to keeping our in-state students in New Hampshire,” said Keene State College Interim President Melinda Treadwell in a news release announcing the program.
Granite Guarantee currently covers about 400 students at the University of New Hampshire.
Higher Ed NH Legislative Report 2017:
The Public Higher Education joint House and Senate study committee met regularly in Fall 2017. On November 1, 2017, they issued this report of their findings:
Study re college students & poverty. Story based on a Temple University study. May 14, 2018.
Education Resources and Websites
Online sources on NH education:
From Ballotpedia.org, a non-partisan organization that collects data on politics and other issues across the country: “Public Education in NH” It offers some background date and comparisons with other states.
An online resource you may wish to consult: “Advancing NH Public Education.”
Another online resource you may wish to consult: “Reaching Higher NH“
From the School Superintendents Assn, a national organization, comes this Resolution in Support of Public Education.
For a detailed background of education in NH, some may wish to read this 17 pp document from the NH Center fore Public Policy Studies.Lessons from New Hampshire: What We Can Learn from the History of the State’s Role in School Finance — 1642 – 1998 Author: Douglas E. Hall, Executive Director of New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies.
Education Freedom Savings Accounts (2017-2018 sessions) aka School Vouchers
Update: Read below for the 2017-2020 efforts. In June of 2021 the Education Freedom Accounts became law not by passage of a bill but by including it in the biennial budget, with no opportunity to get actual floor votes on the program itself. By December 2021 so many people (80% of whom were already attending private schools or were homeschooled) applied for the accounts that the program is already $8 million over budget.
In mid-March 2022, a bill in the NH House to repeal the program was tabled without debate.
Background: SB 193-FN, establishing “education freedom savings accounts” for students made its way partway thru the NH Legislature (spring 2017). SB 193 passed the Senate, but was retained by the House for further study. Retained Bill Subcommittee Work Session was done in fall 2017. The full House Education Committee voted on the bill on Nov. 14, 2017. The vote crossed party lines somewhat with a 10-9 recommendation of “Ought to Pass.” It came before the full House on Jan. 3 2018, greatly amended from early 2017, where it passed 183-162. Went to the House Finance Committee. House voted it down. Senate tacked it onto HB1636 (unrelated except it’s about education.) House voted non-concur. The bill has been amended many times. (update May 2018–seems to be dead for this year. Proponents promise a new bill in 2019.)
Opposing points of view on the effect of this bill if enacted are available on the following websites:
From the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy:
10/30/17: From Reaching Higher NH, this article and detailed chart of the cost impact on local school districts if SB193 (the “voucher” bill) goes into effect.
School voucher programs explained in general, from a webinar with Chief Policy and Advocacy officer from the Nation Centers for Learning Disabilities via Reaching Higher NH—August 2017.
“The Case for School Vouchers” from a PBS panel discussion a few years ago (date unclear). Skip to the bottom of the page for a link to the opposite viewpoints.
April 17, 2018: At the House Finance-Division II work session on SB193 on the division voted 6-2 (or 7-1; some confusion) to refer this much amended bill to Interim Study. The version they will submit to the full House Finance Committee on April 25 at 10 am, LOB 210-211 is amended version 2018-1289h. The vote was held to accept the amendment, then the vote on Ought to Pass as Amended was defeated 5-3, then the vote for Interim Study was done almost without discussion at 1 pm on April 17, as a silent audience including two League members listened intently. League would have preferred this bill be recommended Inexpedient to Legislate.
A radio broadcast on April 23, 2018 with Gov. Sununu indicates his support at the same time that he presents some inaccurate background.
April 25, 2018 The House Finance Committee voted 14-12 to recommend Interim Study on SB193. The vote went mostly along party lines, with 3 Republicans joining the Democrats in opposing passage of this bill. While they didn’t go so far as to recommend Inexpedient to Legislate because the motion brought forward was for Interim Study, the clear majority view is that the bill is not ready to become law. Reminder that this bill is carried over from 2017, was worked on extensively last fall in House Education Committee, worked on for 2 months in House Finance. A bill that needs that much work and still doesn’t get a consensus is probably not a good bill–that is the view of the League of Women Voters, who have sat in on almost all the work sessions.
For a clear summary of the reasons that the Finance Committee does not like this bill, read this post with reference to a Portsmouth Herald editorial.
May 2, 2018 Today the House voted SB193 to Interim Study by a vote of 170-159. A study committee could work on the bill in the late summer and fall, propose new legislation for 2019. Read a newspaper account here.
May 4, 2018 Hold the presses. SB 193 is not dead yet. It was added as an amendment to another bill by the Senate on 5/3/18, will come back to House…more details as we flesh them out. The bill is still a battleground!
May 10, 2018 SB193, the school “voucher” bill that was hastily tacked on to another Senate bill after the House voted it to Interim Study last week didn’t get very far. The House voted 180-163 on May 10 to “non- concur” with the Senate’s scheme and the bill is now dead…but is likely to come back in some form next session in a new bill. (Note: referring a bill to Interim Study in the second year of a session is a way to kill a bill. Highly unlikely it will actually be “studied”.)
League positions on Education
In 2012 the national League of Women Voters conducted a study and reached a position on the Federal Role in Education.
LWV New Hampshire’s 1980 position on education has been amended by the following position, adopted by the board on Jan. 18, 2018. It covers phase one of our current study, will be expanded after the next round of consensus.
LWVNH EDUCATION POSITION. Adopted by the board Jan. 18, 2018. (note that this position was reached through the study and consensus process in 2017-18. It will encompass other areas after phase two of the study and consensus process is completed.)
The League of Women Voters New Hampshire (LWVNH) believes that the responsibility to provide an equitable, quality public education for all children grades K through 12 is shared by the federal, state, and local governments, as expressed in the US and NH constitutions. A quality public education is essential for a strong, viable, and sustainable democratic society and is a civil right.
LWVNH believes a basic role of the state government in funding education should be to achieve equity among municipalities and school districts. This should be done with full understanding that equity does not mean equal, given that some sub-groups of students are more expensive to educate than others and that localities have specific needs.
LWVNH believes that the voters in each school district have the right and the power to choose to offer more educational opportunities beyond those that the state funds and determines to be an “adequate” education, and to raise funding locally, even if this creates greater disparities among school districts.
LWVNH believes that the disparity between actual per pupil costs in school districts and the amount the state contributes to school districts requires funding beyond current state property taxes. In determining our support for additional state revenue streams, LWVNH believes that revenue sources should be assessed in terms of their impact on the ability to pay, the stability and sustainability of the revenue stream, and whether the revenue stream results in regressive taxation or harmful social impact.
LWVNH believes that parents who choose not to use the public schools do so of their own volition and that public funds should not be used to support home schooling or private schools and academies, including religiously affiliated schools.
If any state funds are to be used to pay for all or part of private and/or religiously affiliated school costs, then LWVNH believes that the private/religious schools must have nondiscrimination policies, recognized accreditation, teachers that meet qualifications as set by the NH Department of Education, and that assessments of competencies must be used and reported to the NH Department of Education according to the timetables applied to public school districts.
Whether or not state funds are given to parents to pay for all or part of the expenses of home schooling, LWVNH believes that parents must be held accountable for outcomes, just as the public school districts are held accountable, by the administration and reporting of test results or performance-based assessments of competencies determined acceptable by the NH Department of Education.
LWVNH supports consideration of innovative approaches to education. If criteria are developed and met and approval is given for innovative programs, the League believes that time frames in which to assess, demonstrate and report outcomes must be included in the plan to move forward. Read the position here.
State Board of Education meetings
Board meetings are open to the public, held on the second Thursday of each month, 9 am-2pm, although may go later. Unless posted otherwise, meetings take place at the NH Department of Education building (Londergan Hall), 101 Pleasant Street, Concord, NH.
Agendas and minutes are posted on their website.
The 7 members of the board are appointed by the Governor for a 5-years term. Five represent their districts (same as the Executive Council districts); two are “at large.” Meetings are open to the public, generally begin at 9 am with public comment sessions.
Interesting asides
In this space we will include interesting perspectives on public education as food for thought, not as League positions nor even necessarily substantive facts. Let the discussion begin!
September 2022, the lawsuit challenging the “divisive concepts” bill passed by the NH Legislature last spring, was heard in court. Here is an article explaining the hearing from the NH Bulletin.
On May 26, 2022, Rep. Sue Mullen testified eloquently in opposition to HB1431, the “parental rights” bill that was defeated. Read her testimony here.
“Americans say U.S. colleges make the grade, but many say public schools don’t measure up” Pew Research study By Kristen Bialik and Jocelyn Kiley, May 17, 2018. It’s short and easy to read.
This lengthy article in the October 2017 issue of The Atlantic is titled “Americans Have Given Up on Public Schools. That’s a Mistake. Subtitle: The current debate over public education underestimates its value–and forgets its purpose” by Erika Christakas.
The League of Women Voters of New Hampshire is a 501(c)4 organization
League of Women Voters of New Hampshire
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