Gov. Ayotte's attacks on NH schools will be worse under Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill'
Earlier this month, when Republicans in DC passed Trump’s ruthless and reckless budget bill, they voted to take away healthcare and food from families in order to give more tax breaks to literal billionaires and run up our national debt.
Out of the many headline-grabbing policies in this Frankenstein’s monster of a bill, what’s gotten less attention is how the legislation nationalizes school vouchers as part of a larger agenda to defund and ultimately destroy public education across the country.
My town, Hampton, is home to the first public school in New Hampshire. When the first-graders, with their tiny sneakers and enormous backpacks, filter off the bright yellow buses that bring them together each morning, they pass a plaque. Even before the kids can read, they know what it says: “FIRST PUBLIC SCHOOL.” Sitting at their desks and learning their letters and numbers and history, they are part of a tradition of public education that stretches back 376 years. This is because in the 1600s – even before the United States was founded – the people who lived here recognized their obligation to “teach and instruct all the children of or belonging to our town.”
Despite our proud tradition of public education and generations of public school graduates who have gone on to do incredible things in our communities and our country, our state is last in the nation when it comes to state support for public education.
Ayotte’s voucher program takes money from public schools and transfers it to wealthy families, the vast majority of whom already send their children to private and religious schools. And the program has blown past its initial budget, leaving public schools with even less than expected – which means that local communities will have to cover the shortfall by raising property taxes. As vice chair of the Hampton Select Board, I see how irresponsible budgeting downshifts costs to municipalities and harms our communities.
And, as the product of a public education, a mother of two young kids, and the wife of a public school teacher, I know the value of a public school system that teaches our children the skills they need to thrive and contribute meaningfully to our society and that encourages them to learn from and alongside people who are different than them.
This summer, while American billionaires are renting out European cities, teachers are out buying school supplies with their own money. Instead of selling out our kids and sticking them with the bill for trillions of dollars of tax cuts for the wealthiest among us, we need leaders who are willing to invest in our kids and in public education.