Removal of income cap would cost taxpayers an additional $100,000,000 per year
The New Hampshire House voted to defeat two bills, HB 1561 and HB 1634, that would greatly expand the EFA school voucher program. HB 1561 sought to expand the program to students from specific categories, including those who had a fear for the common cold. HB 1634 would eliminate the income cap altogether, opening the program to all 21,000+ students currently in private education.
House Democratic Leader Matt Wilhelm (D-Manchester) said, “The school voucher bills just defeated were misguided attempts to drastically alter the program from its intended purpose, at great expense to taxpayers. When the voucher program was first enacted three years ago, it was touted as a way to help students from low-income families, who were struggling in public school, find alternative options that their families could afford. HB 1561 and HB 1634 would have eliminated the income cap each in their own way, putting taxpayers on the hook for an additional $100,000,000 a year to subsidize private education for the ultra-wealthy.
Private and religious schools are exempt from anti-discrimination guidelines and not required to protect or even accept students from marginalized communities. It feels completely disingenuous for Republicans to claim that they are trying to protect LGTBQ+ youth today, on the heels of voting to enable state-sanctioned discrimination against them just last week.
Trying to expand this program to include all 21,000 students already in private education, which currently costs taxpayers nothing, is the height of fiscal irresponsibility. Democrats are committed to protecting hardworking Granite Staters from these irresponsible bills that our state cannot afford.”