April 3, 2013
\nFor Immediate Release
\nMedia Contacts:
\nAl Baldasaro mbaldasaro@comcast.net 858-3535
\nCarol McGuire mcGuire4house@gmail.com 782-4918
\nPamela Tucker pamzt@comcast.net 531-0085<\/p>\n
Democrats\u2019 Budget Rejects Excellence In Education, Subjects Kids to Failing Schools<\/p>\n House Democrats Dismantle Educational Opportunity With Vote to Defund New Charter Schools, Tax-Credit Scholarships<\/strong><\/p>\n CONCORD, N.H. \u2014 While the State Department of Education seeks a federal waiver so it can cover up the 72 percent of New Hampshire public schools that are \u201cin need of improvement,\u201d N.H. House Democrats passed a budget today that will make it harder for students of lower-income families to escape these failing schools.<\/p>\n Republicans associated with the House Republican Alliance (HRA) offered several budget amendments today to protect educational opportunities for children in lower-income families, but House Democrats voted against each one of them. By doing so, House Democrats passed a budget that will prevent the development of any new public charter schools through July 2015 and will eliminate a scholarship program that allows students of lower-income families to leave their failing school for a successful public or private school of their parents\u2019 choice.<\/p>\n \u201cDemocrats may have a reputation for supporting education, but today\u2019s vote proves that the only thing Democrats really support is a government monopoly in the education system,\u201d said Rep. Pam Tucker, co-chairman of the House Republican Alliance. \u201cDemocrats seem to care more about their special interest union friends who profit off the monopoly system than the lower-income families whose children would benefit from some competition among schools. Democrats seem to think that only the rich should be able to send their children to excellent schools, but Republicans don\u2019t believe an \u2018adequate education\u2019 is good enough for anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n Last session, Republicans increased funding for charter schools, which are public schools that use different\u2014and often more challenging\u2014educational approaches that work better for some students than the traditional school setting. Additionally, Republicans passed a law that allows New Hampshire businesses to earn a tax credit of up to 85 percent when they donate the equivalent of their tax bill into a scholarship program for students in lower-income families. The scholarships allow these students, who otherwise would be stuck in a failing public school, to attend the public or private school of their parents\u2019 choice or pay for home schooling materials. Both efforts were designed to immediately improve educational opportunities for some lower-income families and create an incentive for public administrators to improve the academic rigor in their schools.<\/p>\n \u201cThe interest in the educational tax-credit scholarship program couldn\u2019t be higher among lower-income families who want an excellent education for their children, and not just an adequate education,\u201d said Carol McGuire, co-chairman of the House Republican Alliance. \u201cCharter schools have provided an alternative solution for similar parents, but most of the existing charter schools have waiting lists much longer than the number of available spots. The demand for charter schools and other educational opportunities couldn\u2019t be greater. We should be expanding these programs, not dismantling them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt seems Democrats would prefer to control the choices that parents make and maintain a status quo public education in New Hampshire,\u201d Tucker added. \u201cRepublicans, especially those of us in the House Republican Alliance, believe every child deserves an excellent education. We urge our colleagues in the Senate to reject House Democrats attempt to shut down the brand new educational opportunities that are already in place for so many New Hampshire families.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" April 3, 2013 For Immediate Release Media Contacts: Al Baldasaro mbaldasaro@comcast.net 858-3535 Carol McGuire mcGuire4house@gmail.com 782-4918 Pamela Tucker pamzt@comcast.net 531-0085 Democrats\u2019 Budget Rejects Excellence In Education, Subjects Kids to Failing Schools House Democrats Dismantle Educational Opportunity With Vote to Defund New Charter Schools, Tax-Credit Scholarships CONCORD, N.H. \u2014 While the State Department of Education seeks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-state-legislation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nhteapartycoalition.org\/tea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nhteapartycoalition.org\/tea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nhteapartycoalition.org\/tea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nhteapartycoalition.org\/tea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nhteapartycoalition.org\/tea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12070"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.nhteapartycoalition.org\/tea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12072,"href":"http:\/\/www.nhteapartycoalition.org\/tea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12070\/revisions\/12072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nhteapartycoalition.org\/tea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nhteapartycoalition.org\/tea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nhteapartycoalition.org\/tea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}