Douglas Carmel

This bill, if passed, would be a disaster for public education, and for New Hampshire. Charter schools don't face the same oversight as public schools. Case in point, a charter school in Exeter closed in 2024, less than two years after it opened. The former school officials faced an investigation for embezzlement and fraud. Charter schools offer less control at the local level. Charter school board members are appointed while public school board members are elected by their community.  Public schools are locally controlled. Charter schools operate like private schools with a state charter and little to no local control, while receiving state funding.   I favor local governance as it is easier to address policy needs and problems locally than at the state level. This legislation aims to completely eliminate democratically elected municipal school boards and teachers' union contracts, replacing them with independent, privately-operated, and highly deregulated charter boards. The bill lowers the threshold for a town to convert a school to a charter from a two-thirds town meeting supermajority to a simple majority at a general election. This bill is another attempt to dismantle our public schools, brick by brick. I don't want to see New Hampshire destroyed. STOP THIS BILL!!!