N.H. House Republicans pass universal eligibility for voucher-like education program
A weekday newsletter delivering the N.H. news you need to know right to your inbox.
Enter Email
Sign Up
Policymakers have long debated EFAs, which are currently available to families who earn up to 350 percent of the federal poverty level (that's about $112,500 for a family of four). While many Republicans have pushed to expand the program, many Democrats have pushed to restrain, shrink, or even eliminate it.
Advertisement
Republican Governor Kelly A. Ayotte, who campaigned on universal school choice, included an EFA expansion plan in
That limitation written into Ayotte's plan implicitly recognized a basic bookkeeping fact about non-'switchers': If a student who had already opted out of public education begins receiving state education funding through an EFA, then their EFA would come at an additional cost to taxpayers, not a savings.
Advertisement
Even so, Republicans in the House decided Ayotte's plan didn't go far enough. They amended
Then, on Thursday, House Republicans went even further, voting in favor of a separate EFA expansion bill that would establish universal eligibility in fiscal year 2026 (which begins in July 2025). That measure,
House Democratic Leader Alexis Simpson of Exeter called SB 295 an 'irresponsible school voucher bill' and said Republicans voted to limit debate on the measure to hide its cost.
'The state budget passed by Republicans last month slashes support for critical programs that serve our most vulnerable citizens,' she said. 'There is simply no money available to expand assistance programs to those in need, let alone those in the highest income brackets.'
Republican Representative Rick M. Ladd of Haverhill told colleagues on Thursday that expanding the EFA program is about ensuring children don't get stuck in a one-size-fits-all education system.
Republican Representative Joseph Sweeney of Salem said limiting debate on the measure was appropriate, since the House had thoroughly debated this topic in the past.
Advertisement
This article first appeared in Globe NH | Morning Report, our free newsletter focused on the news you need to know about New Hampshire, including great coverage from the Boston Globe and links to interesting articles from other places. If you'd like to receive it via e-mail Monday through Friday,
Steven Porter can be reached at
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
7 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump Melts Down Over 'Jeffrey Epstein Hoax' — And The Internet Explodes
President Donald Trump'smeltdown on Wednesday over what he called the 'Jeffrey Epstein hoax' had quite an impact on social media. The president took to his Truth Social platform and posted a lengthy diatribe in which he referred to speculation about the convicted sex offender's clients as 'bullshit' that his own 'PAST supporters have bought into ... hook, line, and sinker.' He also said Epstein truthers were 'weaklings' who are doing the Democrats' work and insisted, 'I don't want their support anymore!' Trump's post came a day after he claimed the so-called Epstein files were fabricated by former FBI Director James Comey and former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. The financier had associated with various politicians, including both Trump and Bill Clinton, and was facing sex trafficking charges before his 2019 death in a New York jail cell. But Trump's DOJ and FBI heads recently stated that no 'Epstein client list' exists, generating even more speculation from the public. Not surprisingly, many people on social media had strong reactions to Trump's post. This might be the craziest Trump post I've ever read. He calls the Epstein files a scam, a hoax, and any of his supporters believe any part of the Epstein files, he doesn't want their support anymore. He labels them weaklings doing the Democrats' work. 🥴 — Hoodlum 🇺🇸 (@NotHoodlum) July 16, 2025 Needless to say, Trump calling it the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax is beyond insulting to the young victims of Epstein's horrible I suppose Epstein Denial is a choice. Trump's choice. — Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) July 16, 2025 He's the weakling. He's protecting pedophiles. I'm glad he doesn't want my support because he's not getting it anymore. — Larry (@LarryECornell) July 16, 2025 From 'We'll release the files on Day One' to 'These files are nonsense' in record time. One of the most shameless 180s in modern presidential history - bragging about transparency, then hoping no one notices/cares about the flip. — Darren Labrum 🇺🇸 (@DLabrum) July 16, 2025 This just goes to show. Supporting Trump is a one way street. You are either 100% with him, or you are against him and he will turn on you in a flash. — Hal_For_NY__ (@HalforNY__) July 16, 2025 It was always weird that Epstein, who Trump hung out with, died while Trump was in office and it somehow was a conspiracy against Democrats. Now it's finally blowing up in the GOP's face and dividing Trump's coalition, as Trump admits in the below post. — Alex גדעון בן װעלװל (@JewishWonk) July 16, 2025 Trump doubled down on the hoax claim during a media event later on Wednesday with Bahraini Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. 'I know it's a hoax … I call it the Epstein hoax' — Trump is still crashing out over Epstein — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 16, 2025 And people were still skeptical about Trump's claim. You ever notice how every time Epstein gets mentioned, Trump short-circuits?He doesn't say 'it's a tragedy'He doesn't say 'we need answers'He doesn't even say 'it's complicated'He calls it a hoax.A hoax that involved over 100 witnesses, sealed documents, private flights,… — Lucien Wolfe (@LucienWolfe111) July 16, 2025 Trump's clearly not realizing the magnitude of this he campaigned on this and now is telling us to forget about it this will cost him dearly everything from here on out will be clouded by Epstein and his legacy will be that of a president who covered for rich pedophiles — Dr sherri (@Reform_West) July 16, 2025 Trump called his MAGA influencers to the White House, gave them carefully prepped 'Epstein binders,' and told them to push the narrative, on camera no less! They flooded social media parroting his talking points, bragged about inside info, and smeared anyone who questioned it.… — Steve Reichel (@SteveReichel) July 16, 2025 Here we have some MAGA influencers holding up binders of a "democratic hoax" provided by the trump administration. — Keith Edwards (@keithedwards) July 16, 2025 They're are files. Maxwell was convicted because of them. If he's saying it's a hoax, he's all over them... — °jP (@jim_pennington) July 16, 2025 Related... Trump Goes Off On His Own MAGA Base: 'I Don't Want Their Support Anymore!' Joe Rogan Blasts The Trump Administration As Epstein Fallout Grows Right-Wing Media Is Now Falling In Line With Trump On Epstein Trump Says Comey, Biden And Obama 'Made Up' The Epstein Files
The Hill
9 minutes ago
- The Hill
Trump's challenge to Democrats on school choice: Put up or shut up
On Independence Day, President Trump signed into law the biggest expansion of universal private school choice in American history. In its reporting, the New York Times inexplicably characterized a last-minute amendment limiting Education Savings Accounts only to states that opt-in as a ' win for Democrats and teachers' unions,' because blue states would presumably choose not to participate. Although American Federation of Teachers president and recently resigned DNC member Randi Weingarten may view the denial of school choice to blue state parents as a 'win,' I doubt working class voters would agree. In fact, that 'win' represents a political landmine for Democrats. I am skeptical about the wisdom of Trump's Education Savings Accounts plan, but I must admit that I am only typing this sentence because of a scholarship I received to attend a private school many years ago. When I was 16, my alcoholic father committed suicide. I vividly remember going to school the first day after my dad's funeral feeling overwhelmed, numb and embarrassed. And I remember how my teachers made me feel safe and seen in a way that altered the trajectory of my life. My younger brother wasn't so lucky. He went to a different school when our dad died and joined a gang after dropping out. I have seen firsthand the impact of education dancing on the razor's edge of a child's life. That's why I do what I do. So I respect leaders like Democrats for Education Reform chief Jorge Elorza, who are driving the voucher debate. But I have a healthy skepticism about the public policy implications of scaling a wild-west national Education Savings Account plan with few regulatory guardrails to ensure educational quality — not to mention separation of church and state red flags or my belief in the promise of public education. Policy concerns aside, voters now face a stark color-coded national split-screen. In red states, you get free money for the school of your choice. In blue states, you get what you get and you don't get upset. Listening to teachers union leaders like Weingarten and her allies, you'd think charter schools were created in an underground right-wing laboratory as part of a secret plot to ' privatize ' public education. In fact charter schools were originally proposed in 1988 by her own American Federation of Teachers predecessor Al Shanker. I worked in the White House for President Bill Clinton, who proudly ran on charter schools when only one existed in America. President Barack Obama later scaled high-quality charters as part of his bold Race to the Top agenda. Charters are public schools, which means they are free and secular, cannot have admission requirements, and have strict regulatory controls on educational quality. That doesn't sound like a Republican plot to destroy public education to me. I am a longtime public school parent. My daughters have attended our great neighborhood Los Angeles Unified School District school, as well as multiple high-quality public charters. But we literally had to win a lottery to get into their charter schools. That's because California caps charter growth, since many charters are not unionized, as a Democratic Party favor to teachers unions. Amongst progressive issues outside education that Weingarten and I agree upon is that Trump is a threat to democracy. That's exactly why the time is now for a Democratic moonshot to translate 'high-quality public schools' from a soundbite into a civil right. In debating this abundance moonshot, the onus is on Democrats like me who are skeptical about Education Savings Accounts to articulate a compelling alternative that can win back working class voters. Weingarten, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have rightly championed universal preschool, free community college and student loan relief. But the entire K-12 experience of a child is conveniently missing from that agenda. In addition to scaling high-quality public school choice, our moonshot must span preschool to post-secondary, pivot from 'equity' to 'quality,' and put parents — not party interests — at the center. This begins with eliminating school attendance boundaries that trap children in failing schools; expanding high-quality career and technical education; universal tutoring for the COVID generation; endorsement of science of reading; and finishing the job of Brown v. Board of Education by codifying high-quality public schools as a civil right for all children in America. The good news for my party is that Democrats have a strong bench of national leaders with a record of challenging party orthodoxy. That was a feature — not a bug — of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama's success as the only two-term Democratic presidents since Franklin Roosevelt. The bad news is that while Democrats have dithered for a decade under Biden, Harris and Weingarten, Republicans have been formulating a bold vision for American education with obvious appeal for the same working class voters Democrats need to win back. The ball is decidedly now in our court. Democratic leaders must volley with a viable vision that speaks to the urgent needs of working-class parents — not just to do the right thing for kids, but also to win back power. For the sake of American democracy, Democrats must not concede education Independence Day to Trump.
The Hill
9 minutes ago
- The Hill
Spanberger leads Virginia governor's race by 12 points: Survey
Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) holds a double-digit lead over Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R) in the state's gubernatorial race, according to a poll released on Wednesday. The survey, conducted by the Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University, showed Spanberger leading Earle-Sears 49 percent to 37 percent among registered voters in the state. The latest results mark an uptick in support for Spanberger from the last poll, which showed her leading Earle-Sears 45 percent to 35 percent. The poll's results out of the lieutenant gubernatorial race and the attorney general race mirrored the governor's race results. In the lieutenant governor's race, state Sen Ghazala Hashmi (D) leads conservative talk show host John Reid 46 to 36 percent, while in the attorney general race former Del. Jay Jones (D) leads current Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares 47 to 38 percent. However, roughly half of Independents in all three matchups said they were undecided. Most polling out of the governor's race so far shows Spanberger with an advantage over Earle-Sears. A Roanoke College survey released in May showed Spanberger with a wide 43 percent to 26 percent lead over Earle-Sears, with 28 percent of voters saying they were undecided. However, another May poll released by the business group Virginia FREE showed Spanberger leading by 4 percentage points. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the race as lean Democratic. Earle-Sears has sought to tout her work during Gov. Glenn Youngkin's administration on the campaign trail. While the governor has enjoyed high approval ratings throughout his nearly four years in office, the VCU poll released on Wednesday showed a slight decline in support. Forty-nine percent of respondents polled said they approved of Youngkin's job as governor down from 51 percent in December. Thirty-nine percent said they disapproved of Youngkin's job up one point from December. The Virginia Commonwealth University poll was conducted June 19 through July 3 among 809 Virginia adults. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.16 percentage points.
