Debrah Howes

The American Federation of Teachers - NH opposes this bill. Withholding all funding, or even all Special Education Funding from a school district because of an unresolved dispute over the district's ability to provide the services required to support an individual student's access to a free and appropriate public education is an inappropriate solution. It would punish all the students in the school district and hurt their education because of an issue that may be completely out of the school district's control - such as the loss of a key employee and the inability to fill that position with a replacement employee in a timely manner. Collectively punishing every student in the district by withholding funds, even "just" the Special Education funds will harm the educational opportunities and outcomes for every student as money is moved around in the budget to cover the lost funds. This is the wrong approach to better helping districts' meet their obligations provide supports for individual students. Public schools have a moral and legal obligation to educate ALL students, so punishing the whole district, and all the students, is a poor substitute for the state better supporting districts with Special Education costs.