Senate Republicans Push Forward Plans to Include School Vouchers in State Budget
Contact Name: Marina Altschiller
Phone: (603) 271-3207
CONCORD – Today, following a party line vote of ought to pass on SB 130, an act relative to education freedom accounts, Senate Republicans voted to table the legislation. By voting to table SB 130, the bill will not be sent to the Senate Finance Committee for further review of the fiscal impact to the state of New Hampshire, and will deny the House of Representatives the ability to further examine the bill.
After the vote, Senate Democratic Leader Donna Soucy (D-Manchester) and Senator Jay Kahn (D-Keene) issued the following statements:
“SB 130 is a flawed, unconstitutional bill,” stated Senate Democratic Leader Donna Soucy (D-Manchester). “The NH Constitution prohibits taxpayer dollars from being directed to private or religious schools. Now more than ever, when legislators on both sides of the aisle have identified property taxpayer relief as a priority, it is difficult to understand why we would remove safeguards for the use of taxpayer dollars and ask hardworking Granite Staters to pay for the private education of other children and families.”
Senator Jay Kahn (D-Keene) added, “Our number one priority should be ensuring a quality education in a safe environment. As written, SB 130 does not require the Education Service Providers (ESPs) to meet all state and local fire, health and safety requirements that are applicable to public schools and does not require employees of ESPs to pass a criminal history background check. Education Freedom vouchers are wrong for pupil safety, wrong for our taxpayers, and wrong for New Hampshire.”
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