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New Hampshire school-funding bill gets a closer look before House panel Ways and Means Committee to consider boosting property tax relief March 2, 2021 The House Ways and Means Committee will be holding a work session on Wednesday to look at a bill that’s an ougtrowth of the Commission to Study School Funding’s recommendations, which sought to craft a plan to provide more equitable opportunity for schoolchildren while more equitable treatment of property taxpayers. House Bill 504, sponsored by Rep. Dick Ames, a Democrat from Jaffrey who served on the commission, would significantly increase the property tax relief offered to low- and moderate-income homeowners. At the same time, the bill adds to the controversy around so-called “donor towns,” those municipalities where the statewide education property tax, or SWEPT, raises more revenue than needed to fund their schools. Since 2011 they have been allowed to retain the excess. ....
Instead of a solution to the decades long structural failure to fund our public schools, State Reps. David Luneau, Dick Ames, and Marjorie Porter propose a cruel band-aid. Here’s how their House Bill 504 works: Those citizens struggling to pay the. ....
Our Turn: Property tax relief means stronger families and a stronger economy Published: 2/14/2021 6:00:08 AM Families across New Hampshire are well acquainted with two truths. First, property taxes are excruciatingly high – and often highest for the least well-off. Second, school funding is inequitable – and, for many towns, insufficient. Since the early 2000s, our low- and moderate-income neighbors have struggled to make ends meet in the crosswinds of wage stagnation and rising cost of living; many are now flattened by the headwind of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of July 2020, half of New Hampshire households reported some loss of income from employment and more than one in four households are now struggling to pay basic expenses. From Portsmouth to Pittsfield, Lebanon to Lisbon, we’ve heard rallying cries for transparency and equity in the property tax system. With school budget shortfalls and potential cuts to state education aid looming, families will once ....
Lawmaker s vulgar insult highlights tensions of remote N.H. State House Technical changes brought on by the pandemic have added new tensions to the business of the N.H. Legislature. Courtesy Published: 2/11/2021 4:56:12 PM There was full remote attendance during the most recent meeting of the New Hampshire House Ways and Means Committee. But one lawmaker, Committee Chairman Norm Major explained, would not be allowed to vote during the hearing. “Mary, you are as important to us as anyone else,” Major said. “But that’s what the rule is now.” “Mary” is 94-year old Republican Rep. Mary Griffin. Under rules set by House Speaker Sherman Packard, to vote remotely – the norm now, with the Legislature’s virtual meeting schedule amid the pandemic lawmakers must be visible on screen. Because Griffin lacks a computer with a camera, she can’t vote on bills in committee unless she travels to the State House. The policy was roundly criticized by her com ....
Monadnock Ledger-Transcript Published: 1/27/2021 4:31:05 PM The ConVal School Board is pushing to expedite COVID-19 vaccinations for teachers following Gov. Chris Sununu’s statement last week that “teachers don t provide emergency medical services and are not required to,” justifying their absence from Phase 1b of the state’s vaccine rollout. While in theory that might be true, a lack of vaccines exacerbates the ongoing concern that schools could close for a lack of staffing throughout the pandemic, School Board Chair Rich Cahoon said. Francestown Elementary School closed for two weeks on Monday following a COVID-19 exposure, he said, underscoring the reality of the Board’s concerns. ....