Senate Education Committee
Ryan Meleedy 271-4151
HB 676, relative to the composition and responsibilities of the parent and education service provider advisory commission, and establishing education freedom account impact and parent satisfaction surveys.
Hearing Date: May 6, 2025
Members of the Committee Present: Senators Ward, Sullivan, Abbas, Prentiss and Altschiller
Members of the Committee Absent : None
Bill Analysis: This bill makes changes to the parent and education service provider advisory commission and establishes education freedom account impact and parent satisfaction surveys.
Sponsors:
Rep. Cordelli | Rep. Ladd | Rep. D. McGuire |
Rep. Noble | Rep. Terry | Sen. Sullivan |
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Who supports the bill: 5 People signed in support of House Bill 676. To access the full list, please email the committee aide (ryan.meleedy@gc.nh.gov).
Who opposes the bill: 87 People signed in opposition of House Bill 676. To access the full list, please email the committee aide (ryan.meleedy@gc.nh.gov).
Who is neutral on the bill: 1 Person signed in neutrality to House Bill 676. To access the full list, please email the committee aide (ryan.meleedy@gc.nh.gov).
Summary of testimony presented in support:
Representative Glenn Cordelli
- Representative Cordelli explained that House Bill 676 does two basic things.
- He explained that it addresses membership of the provider advisory commission, as there has been confusion as to who the members of the committee are supposed to be. He added that there is nothing in the statute that determines the requirements for a quorum of the committee.
- He established that there is no requirement for the committee to meet, and they haven't convened yet because of this. The bill addresses this by requiring the committee to convene on a quarterly basis.
- He explained that Section B was added by the bill, which requires the committee to study the application process, approval of expenses, and make recommendations based on its findings.
- He explained that the second basic addition to statute that the bill would make is to require two surveys when a student and their family decide to enroll in the Education Freedom Account program.
- He said that both surveys have been in use for a different scholarship program since 2012, and that their addition to the EFA program would work well.
- He established that one survey is given to the students’ parents to serve as an “exit interview” to figure out why they are choosing to leave their home district school, to help that school improve.
- He said that the second survey is to see whether a student is better suited after enrolling in the EFA program than they were before, to gauge the success of the program.
Neutral Information Presented:
Caitlin Davis - Department of Education
- Ms. Davis established that the DOE cannot currently survey parents because they are not set up to collect such data. She explained that they are actually prohibited from gathering this information.
- She explained that the bill would be better suited if the surveys were administered by the Children’s Scholarship Organization.
- She added that the DOE doesn't have any tools for collecting parental data. She explained that to survey parents through the DOE, a reconfiguration of data collection and storage would be necessary, which would incur costs.
- Representative Cordelli said he would be happy to assist with an amendment to address Ms. Davis’s concerns.
RM
Date Hearing Report completed: May 12, 2025