Concord Alert: House votes to use your tax dollars to help und private schools; Low-income child care assistance passed; Dropout law fails

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April 12: The New Hampshire House of Representatives today passed Senate Bill 131 by a vote of 183 to 167. The legislation, promoted under the banner of a “school choice certification program,” effectively takes money away from public schools to fund private institutions, says Rep. Barbara Hull Richardson, (D) Richmond.

“It would [support] religious schools or other private schools and would provide $500,000 in tax credits to businesses and people who donated to them,” she says. “But that takes it away from the general fund, which takes it away from general education.” SB131 has already passed in the Senate and now goes to the governor for a signature.

In a small state like New Hampshire even a small number of voter comments can make a difference. Make your voice heard. Contact the governor at this link.



Child care assistance bill passes

On a more positive note, the House did pass Senate Bill 306, which provides $500,000 to help low-income parents who can’t afford the services of a licensed, quality child care program. The program is available on a “first-served basis to families whose income is between 190 percent and 250 percent of the federal poverty guidelines.” If signed by Governor Lynch, the legislation would take effect on July 1. The official 2006 federal poverty level for a family of four is $20,000 a year in annual income. That would extend aid to such families with income up to $50,000. For a full description of poverty guidelines for various types of families, see THE 2006 HHS POVERTY GUIDELINES.

House deals blow to Governor’s bill raising legal dropout age to 18
Senate Bill 268, a bill would have raised the legal dropout age and forced children to remain in school until the age of 18, was voted down in the House today. The bill, “An Act raising the age of required attendance of children in school and establishing a 2-year pilot program for increasing vocational education opportunities in the Manchester and Nashua school districts and making an appropriation therefore,” failed 134 to 219 (See the Concord Monitor story, Dropout Proposal Flunks Out of House.)

“One of the objections people had was the funding,” says Re. Barbara Hull Richardson, (D) Richmond, who voted for the bill. While the bill requires children to remain in school until the age of 18 it did little in the way of funding programs that could help these students graduate. Richardson notes that the bill would have used part of the $25 million in funding allocated to preventing dropouts and would have set up a $1.2 million vocational program in Nashua and Manchester, two areas with the highest dropout rates.

The bill isn’t dead, however. An amendment sent the bill back for “interim study.”

Richardson admits the bill doesn’t solve the problem of dropouts. “Kids don’t decide to drop out at age 16. They haven’t felt good about their education way prior to that.” She thinks that better preschool education and kindergarten opportunities are needed. And, she adds, “Some kids really need alternative ways of learning. The classroom isn’t necessarily what all kids need. [Some] need hands on or technical stuff or working with cars or learning to become electricians. I think they should have that opportunity.”

Richardson says Monadnock district kids are lucky to have Monadnock Community Connections School (MC2), an alternative high school that includes "experiential learning." “I think MC2 is great. I think it would help with the dropout issue. Some kids really need that type of education,” she says. The program is part of the MRPSOC school choice program, which is funded in part by a federal school choice grant.

It is not too late to let your governor and legislators know what you think about these bills.

Contact the governor at this link. Find and contact your legislators at this link.

Take the time to make a phone call or send an e-mail today. Legislators do pay attention.

You can make a difference.

A copy of this story is also posted on the 38kids blog site. For more stories visit us at http://38kids.blogspot.com.