New Hampshire Republicans pushing to allow children to attend any school district in the state got closer to the finish line than ever Thursday. But a handful of Republicans joined Democrats to thwart the effort, and the idea, once again, has hit a wall. After exhaustive conversation, the House failed to pass Senate Bill 101, […]
It was an audit that alerted the Claremont School Board to a $5 million financial hole last August, kicking off an all-hands scramble to save the district from possible closure. And it will be an audit that helps prevent Claremont — and every other New Hampshire public school administrative unit — from making those kinds […]
It’s been a reality evident to homeowners for decades: New Hampshire public services are overwhelmingly driven by property taxes. Now, a new analysis by the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute has quantified that dependency. In 2022, New Hampshire cities and towns relied on property taxes for 61% of their total revenues, the highest proportion of […]
After months of fits and starts, New Hampshire Republicans are attempting a new approach to create “universal open enrollment” in the state’s public schools. The proposal would still allow parents to send their children to public schools outside of their district. But this time, districts would not owe each other costly tuition. Instead, the latest […]
Following years of court battles over “divisive concepts,” House Republican lawmakers have rallied around new legislation this year to bar public K-12 teachers from the “indoctrination” of Marxism and critical race theory. But as the “CHARLIE Act” moves to the Senate after passing the House last month, the bill has an unlikely opponent: the New […]
A proposal to address high property taxes by introducing a statewide income tax and property tax roiled Concord Tuesday, prompting denunciations by both Republican and Democratic political leaders. But proponents are asking the public to give the idea a chance. The idea, titled the “3-3 Tax Savings Plan,” would institute a 3% income tax for […]
Christine Downing’s phone told a story. Over the course of a multi-hour hearing Tuesday afternoon, the SAU 75 superintendent received a text from her business manager about a personnel issue, a school principal about a family in need, the district’s attorney about “an ongoing legal case,” and the Grantham police chief about a law enforcement […]
New Hampshire House Republicans are moving forward with a new attempt to regulate teaching on race, history, and LGTBQ+ issues in public schools. On Thursday, the chamber passed a bill that would ban certain types of instruction and punish teachers who carried it out. Known as the CHARLIE Act and named after the conservative activist […]
As legislation to create an “open enrollment” system for public schools awaits a final vote in the House, the state’s school superintendents association is speaking against the idea. In a statement Monday, the New Hampshire School Administrators Association said the bill, House Bill 751, would “risk overriding local decision-making.” The Republican bill, which passed the […]
New Hampshire Senate Republicans fast-tracked a bill to create universal open enrollment in New Hampshire public schools Thursday, using a parliamentary maneuver to send the bill to the House without needing a hearing in either chamber. If signed into law, the legislation would allow New Hampshire residents to enroll students in any school district in […]