I oppose House Bills 607 and HB 20. Voucher bills are using public money to support private education with no accountability to the taxpayers as to how the funds are being used.
In addition some of the private schools are religious schools, violating the separation of church and state. Public money should not be used for religious education.
New Hampshire is the worst state in the country for funding public education. It ranks 50th in state support of public schools. The state contributes the least amount of money to each town for support of public education, making towns use property taxes to fund public education. This causes towns with low property valuations to pay more toward education then towns with high property valuations.
Now my elected officials are forcing those same poor towns to pay for private education by withholding state funds from the same struggling public schools and giving the state funds to private education.
I urge Rep. Porter, Rep. Fedolfi, and Sen. Ward to vote against HB 607 and HB 20.
LILIAN CARTER
Deering