The NH legislature does not need to form a study committee, merely to look at its own record and that of the governor to see why teacher retention is so difficult in our state. School funding is mostly reliant on property tax. Teachers are not paid well. They are not valued. Parents, thanks also to the commissioner of education, have been given a very broad range of school choice, much of it funded by public education monies.
Teachers are now more than ever told what to teach or not. Lax gun laws make educators and students feel unsafe. New Hampshire favors businesses over families, having been way behind the curve on alternative energy and women’s reproductive rights. Why would anyone, especially women, want to remain in a state that values them so little? No need for a study committee; what we need is caring and forward-thinking legislators.
Janet Moore
Andover