PROTECT PUBLIC EDUCATION

Public Education

I, Ellin Leonard, as your Conway candidate for the New Hampshire House of Representatives seat in District Carroll 1, believe we must work together to strengthen our public schools and ensure students have the resources they need to succeed. Now the NH GOP is working with national anti-public school groups to weaken schools like Kennett High School so they eventually fail. Think what our lovely town would be like without Kennett and our middle and elementary schools. I will not allow that to happen.

My Stand on Educational Freedom Accounts (EFA)

I am firmly opposed to the Educational Freedom Accounts (EFA) as presently set up by the Republican majority. When I am elected to the New Hampshire State House in November, I will immediately work with other Democrats to rewrite the Education Freedom Account (EFA) voucher legislation that is placing new property tax burdens on towns like Conway.

Here is why: New Hampshire voters value public education for our children. Statewide in New Hampshire, more than 160,000 students attend NH public schools. Unfortunately, the Republican majority at the New Hampshire State House is focusing most of its efforts on supporting the approximately 12,500 students who are receiving EFA vouchers. That's around seven percent of our school-age children. Think of 100 children standing before you, and only seven are getting all the GOP's attention. When I am elected by you, I will make sure all 100 of those children — all 172,500 of New Hampshire's school-age children — are getting quality educations, and that the state is paying its fair share instead of following the Republican model of downshifting more and more of the tax burden onto local towns and property taxpayers.

My Budget Committee Experience: EFA Vouchers Need to Be Audited

As a former member of the Conway Budget Committee, I know how governing bodies should oversee how taxpayer money is being spent. But here is what I am seeing now: Republicans in the state legislature have diverted some $50 million away from the 160,000 children in public schools to underwrite the 12,500 voucher recipients, most of whom never attended public school. It is unfair that our local property taxpayers must pay for these new costs.

Our public schools are monitored closely by local school boards and local voters who determine how money is spent. In the Republican EFA voucher program, there is very little oversight. In fact, the EFA voucher oversight — or really the lack of oversight — is provided by a New York–based private corporation that has collected some $11 million for its services but refuses to provide the state a proper audit of how well or poorly the money is being used by those 12,500 vouchered students.

In fact, there are well-documented examples of rich families using their voucher money to take their kids on summer vacations or winter ski trips and calling it educational enrichment. This is happening at a time when many Conway families are having trouble finding enough money to feed their children. Now these working-class families are also being required, via their property taxes, to subsidize rich kids skiing in places like Tahoe or vacationing in Europe. I will work to ensure that does not continue.

GOP Is Downshifting Costs to Conway Property Taxpayers

The GOP is downshifting costs to property owners in large part because they are cutting taxes for major multinational corporations in our state, like Walmart, as well as giving tax breaks to the super-rich by eliminating taxes on their estates and stock dividends.

As your NH State House Representative, I will fight to ensure every person and every corporation pays their fair share. If that happens, we can take the pressure off working-class folks. Instead of collecting revenue from those corporations and the super-rich, the GOP has been downshifting tax burdens that the state once paid. They have downshifted those obligations to local communities, causing property taxes to skyrocket in my hometown of Conway and across the state.

I will work with Democrats and Republican state legislators, with public school administrators, school boards, teachers, and parents to develop legislation that strengthens public education and forces multinational corporations like Walmart to pay their share of educating their future employees. This is in contrast to the GOP and Gov. Kelly Ayotte, who have been giving Walmart and other big corporations tax breaks while their shareholders and owners make record profits.

I will be Conway's voice in the New Hampshire State House to ensure a fair tax system for local property owners as I fight to make sure our local public schools provide an excellent education for every student enrolled.

Public Schools Welcome Every Child, Private Schools Do Not

Every child can find a place in a public school in his or her district — that includes children with disabilities. Private schools, on the other hand, now underwritten with your property tax dollars, can pick and choose their students. Parents don't have a choice; the private schools decide who enters and who does not. Wrong religion? Sorry, no place for you. Can't afford the $45,000 to attend Brewster Academy? Sorry, take your voucher money someplace else. Have a disability? Sorry, we can't accommodate you.

That's why the vast majority of students attend public schools, and 20 years of Gallup polling have shown that an amazing 75 percent of parents with children in public schools are pleased with the education their children are receiving. Few other institutions earn that kind of positive rating. So please vote for me, Ellin Leonard, for our Conway and New Hampshire children, this November.