April Anderson

Dear Committee Members, Thank you for allowing me to submit testimony for my opposition to SB101. As a tax payer and small town resident, this bill would be devastating to our local community. Our school is the cornerstone of our town. It's where everyone gathers during the school year and during the summer. Public schools provide education for all and it provides a sense of community for a small town. If you allow resident students to attend school anywhere in the state you will lose your sense of community. This may not matter to bigger towns but I can tell you in a small town like Hinsdale, where we all know each other, this will be a big loss. There are also too many unanswered questions with this proposed bill. How are schools and towns supposed to budget 18mths inadvance for students who may want to go to another school anywhere in the state or who may want to come to our school? It is not likely that tuition rates will match up with our tuition rate either. Costs for running the buildings in the district will not change if a few students want to transfer but the budget to educate those few students will. Which could throw budgets that are tight to begin with into chaos. Also who pays for the services those students may need? If a school they transfer to may be providing services for more cost than the resident school was? We have a high population of students in need and families on the lower poverty level. I know our School District has worked hard to provide a responsible budget that gives the students more opportunities to discover where they may fit into the outside world for a career. I want to believe this bill was brought forth by thinking how to provide students with more opportunities but in fact it will diminish opportunities for many students in our district if the taxes our community pays, goes to a school somewhere else in the state. Also, who is responsible to transport these students? Our school has put in the work to look at how they are using our tax payers money and how they can get the most for the students to benefit our community. There are just too many unanswered questions to approve this bill. Too many details unanswered and there are obvious ways this will hurt local public schools. I ask you to not approve SB101 for the sake of our students, community and our public schools. Sincerely, April Anderson Hinsdale, NH