NHCIS - Charter school news and updates

Greetings charter school supporters!

It's National Charter School Week and we have a number of charter school updates for you.

Governor visits Manchester Charter School 

Senate Finance examines HB2 

Legislators visit Academy for Science and Design in Nashua  

Please show your support for public charter schools!  

Moratorium update

New Hampshire makes national news by dropping 11 spots to #30 in nation  

The Center joins "The Facebook" 

Governor visits Manchester Charter School 

Students in Manchester had an exciting visitor recently when Governor Hassan stopped by to tour their new school. Mill Falls Charter School welcomed Governor Hassan to campus on Wednesday, April 10th, offering her (and her accompanying staff) warm coffee/tea and breakfast treats. The tour included a brief presentation of their start up story as New Hampshire's first public Montessori school and a presentation by two Mill Falls students who demonstrated how a Montessori work is used to master a concept.

Founder and Board Chairman Meryl Levin said of the visit: "The Governor spent time in all four of our classrooms, and seemed to really enjoy her conversations with the children and staff. She was definitely relaxed in the nurturing environment of a Montessori classroom and was impressed with the level of energy the students put into their daily work. She encouraged the staff to build good channels of communication with other public schools to engage and share our educational approach with the larger community."

   

More on the visit from Mark Hayward, Union Leader

    

Senate Finance examines HB2   

When is public policy just plain bad policy? When you include significant policy changes inside a budget bill and skip public debate on them. The charter provisions in HB2 (as passed by the House) are particularly troubling as a number of them would clearly discriminate against public charter school students.

Members of the Senate Finance Committee seemed to agree last Friday and questioned why such significant changes were not vetted in policy committee first? The atmosphere was bipartisan, serious and you could tell that committee members wanted to fix what had occurred in the House. Very positive!

Legislators visit Academy for Science and Design in Nashua

Students at the Academy for Science and Design recently received some exciting guests of their own when over a dozen New Hampshire legislators stopped by to tour the school. It was wonderful to see members from both parties present and engaged with students. The tour included a question and answer session and lunch with legislators giving everyone the opportunity to learn more about ASD and the work of the state legislature.

    

Please show your support for public charter schools! We are trying to consolidate a number of petitions. If you haven't already, please sign the petition. Thank you! 

http://www.change.org/petitions/please-show-your-support-for-public-charter-school-students  

Moratorium update

Public charter schools remain trapped in a web of posturing and politics. Whether by coincidence or by design, the BoE's decision to deny all pending charter school applications last September enabled some members of the House to take charter schools and over $5.5 million in federal grant funds hostage during budget negotiations.  

It looks as though it will be late June before the madness is over. If this ordeal has taught the state anything it is that we need to separation again between the entity that approves or denies charter school applications and the legislature which funds or does not fund them. HB299 would return the law to its Pre 2011 language and fix the problem however that bill is being held captive in committee. (See trump card video)

You can read more about the posturing and politics in this article by the Associated Press

NH makes national news by dropping 11 spots to #30 in nation

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools has released its 2013 assessment of state charter school laws. New Hampshire made news this year by dropping 11 places to number #30.  

From the Report, "New Hampshire dropped from #19 to #30 because the state board of education enacted a moratorium on the approval of state-authorized charters".

The State had been making incremental but positive gains over the last few years. In 2011, a change to RSA 194:B removed the cap of 20 schools and made the State Board of Education a permanent charter school authorizer. Only a year later however, the Board denied all pending charter school applications.

The Center joins "The Facebook"

If you haven't heard already the Center recently joined the world of social networking on the "interweb". Check out our Facebook page for updates on all things charter schools.

  

About NHCIS

 

The New Hampshire Center for Innovative Schools is a NH registered non-profit whose members are committed to helping inspire the creation of innovative public schools in New Hampshire. We offer assistance to all New Hampshire charter schools and groups wanting to learn more about these innovative programs. Our services are free, we do not charge or accept payment for our assistance.

Rep. William O'Brien's Comments on the Senate Tabling of the Repeal of the New Hampshire Education Choice Law

Concord - Today Rep. William O'Brien (R-Mont Vernon) offered the following comment on the Senate Tabling of the Repeal of the New Hampshire Education Choice Law:

“I join with many parents and all in New Hampshire who believe that children of low and moderate income families deserve the best education possible in congratulating the Senate for preserving equal education opportunities for those families by tabling HB370, the repeal of the New Hampshire Education Choice Law. Giving parents more public and private school choices when it comes to the education of their children is going to expand elementary and high school educational opportunities for our children and, through competition, will improve public schools.  That this will be done, not by more government spending, but by business tax credits and that the program will allow us to use our public school dollars on educating fewer students, makes the opposition to this law inapplicable, unless that opposition is founded on reasons other than what is best for children.  We need to see more money-saving, opportunity-expanding programs such as the New Hampshire Education Choice Law on both the state and federal levels.”

NHDP Statement on Senate Republicans Irresponsible Education Voucher Vote

Concord - New Hampshire Democratic Party Communications Director Harrell Kirstein released the following statement on Senate Republicans decision to table HB370, a bill repealing the irresponsible school voucher program.

"The irresponsible education voucher passed by the Jeb Bradley and Bill O'Brien led Tea Party Republicans damages New Hampshire public schools, is fiscally irresponsible and must be repealed. Vouchers shift limited state funds away from public school districts, and downshift the cost of reduced adequacy payments to local communities and property tax payers.  The voucher program allows a radical out of state right wing fringe group bent on the destruction of public education to determine the use of public education funds. 

"It is disappointing that Senator Odell and Senator Stiles flip-flopped on education vouchers. Their choice today was simple, and unfortunately they chose to stand with the Bill O'Brien and Jeb Bradley led Tea Party instead of with New Hampshire students and public schools."

Senate Republican Leaders Comment on Tabling of Education Tax Credit Repeal

The New Hampshire Senate

Republican Majority Office

Senate President Peter Bragdon (R-Milford) and Majority Leader Jeb Bradley (R-Wolfeboro) issued the following statement today after the tabling of HB370, which would have repealed the Education Tax Credit Program enacted in the previous legislature:

“When we took office following the 2010 elections, we pledged to support legislation that would lower taxes, create jobs, promote opportunity, reign in government regulation, and encourage personal liberty – and we are proud of the legislation we enacted in furtherance of those objectives.  As a part of that effort, the Education Tax Credit Scholarship Program passed with overwhelming majorities because it expands opportunities for low-income parents and students and does so without increasing the tax burden on individuals or municipalities.  Senate Republicans will oppose efforts to undo the work of the last two years, as we did earlier today by tabling legislation seeking to repeal the innovative tax credit program.”

NHDP - Will Sens Odell, Stiles Stand up for NH Students Or the O'Brien-Bradley Tea Party?

Will Republicans turn taxpayer money over to a radical, out of state organization?

Concord - When the New Hampshire State Senate takes up repeal of a misguided education voucher passed by the Jeb Bradley and Bill O'Brien led Tea Party legislature today, all eyes will be on Senators Bob Odell and Nancy Stiles.  With re-election contests just a few months away both Stiles and Odell voted against this irresponsible attack on public schools in 2012.  But today, Majority Leader Jeb Bradley is counting on them to flip flop, table HB370, and refuse to vote for repeal of his reckless education voucher.

"The question on the minds of parents, students, and educators across the state today is will Stiles and Odell stand with them?  Or will they turn their backs on New Hampshire's public education system and vote to support Jeb Bradley and Bill O'Brien's Tea Party agenda?" asked New Hampshire Democratic Party communications director Harrell Kirstein.  "Voting for anything than 'ought to pass' is clear sign Odell and Stiles no longer can be counted on to defend New Hampshire public school students."

The education voucher program could cost New Hampshire public schools 90 million dollars over ten years, divert that funding to private and religious schools, and downshift costs to local communities and property tax payers.  It would be administered by a fiscally irresponsible out of state organization, the Network for Educational Opportunity whose president is dedicated to showing "how and why government schooling is so harmful to children."  He compares American public schools to opposition to Hilter's "takeover of German's schools."  And concludes that public schools foster "dependency." [schoolandstate.org]

"This is radical right wing organization intent on destroying public education in New Hampshire and across the country.  They should not be involved in allocating New Hampshire citizens hard-earned tax dollars," said Kirstein.  "The choice for Odell and Stiles is simple.  Do you stand with New Hampshire students or Jeb Bradley and this radical out of state anti-education organization?"