Denise Clark

As a native NH senior citizen, who has lived in the same house for the past 45 years and whose children attended Milford public schools, I am strongly opposed to HB 1358. HB1358 looks to set up a commission to study converting ALL public schools to charter schools. If this bill passes, the commission established is required to report its findings and recommendations by January 1, 2027. This is a very short window for a very complicated task. 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 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. 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 want a say in how my local schools operate in return for my tax dollars. BTW, instead of turning public schools into charter schools, why don't we upgrade all public schools with comparable charter school programming.