School Voucher Petition Warrant Article
At our January 20th MVDC meeting we voted to support getting warrant articles approved for votes at town meetings about the expansion of the state school voucher program. The warrant article lets our elected representatives know we don't support current efforts to expand school vouchers.
A simple way to look at the issue is as a choice between prioritizing property-tax relief or expanding the current school voucher program to allow more families to receive state money to send their kids to private schools they are likely already attending.
Taking funds from the Education Trust Fund to fund private schools continues to shift the burden of public education to local property taxes. NH education outcomes are among the best in the nation, yet we are at the bottom nationwide in state funding from sources other than property taxes.
The current state program lacks any accountability to voters. While the first voucher program was initially estimated at well under $1M, this expanded program is estimated to cost $100 million.