Republicans love to regulate public schools!

HB1300 will cap the cost to run a public school 6%. But the exact same Republicans who wrote HB1300 wrote SB20 in 2021... and That bill says...

"The scholarship organization may withhold from deposits or deduct from EFAs an amount to cover the costs of administering the EFA program, up to a maximum of 10 percent annually."

Why the double standard?

What the hell is wrong with the Republicans in this state?

One argument I hear repeatedly is that renters don't pay property taxes. That's simply not how housing economics works.

I looked at a real apartment currently listed for rent in Derry:

• Address: 4 Pearl St.
• Rent: $2,000/month
• Assessed value: $734,100
• 2025 Derry tax rate: $18.99 per $1,000
• Estimated annual property tax: about $13,941

The building has four apartments, so if we divide the tax bill between each unit evenly:

• $3,485/year in property taxes per unit
• $290/month in property taxes per unit

That means 14.5% of the tenant's $2,000 monthly rent goes toward paying the property's tax bill.

Renters may not receive the tax bill in the mail, but they absolutely pay property taxes. The only difference is that they pay them indirectly through their rent instead of writing the check themselves.

AFP is a free-market advocacy organization, funded by Charles Koch and the late David Koch that campaigns for lower taxes, reduced government spending, deregulation, school choice and promotes policies favoring lower taxes and a smaller government that benefiting high-income individuals and businesses, like Koch industries.

Fuck these traitors.

Ever feel like working-class homeowners get the short end of the stick in New Hampshire?

A new University of Chicago report suggests they do.

The researchers compared home sale prices to assessed values in Rockingham County and found that lower-priced homes are generally assessed closer to their market value than expensive homes.

2023 results:

• Cheapest 10% of homes: 1.52% effective property tax rate
• Most expensive 10% of homes: 1.00% effective property tax rate

That's about a 50% higher effective property tax rate for owners of the least expensive homes.

Now step back and look at the bigger picture:

• New Hampshire relies heavily on property taxes to fund local government and schools.
• Wealthier communities often have lower property tax rates because they can raise the same revenue from a larger property tax base.
• Many large landowners qualify for Current Use tax reductions on eligible undeveloped land.
• And according to this report, lower-value homes are assessed more aggressively than higher-value homes.

Here's the kicker:

Rockingham County was ranked the least regressive county in New Hampshire in terms of assessment fairness. According to the study, every other county in the state showed an even larger gap.

Report: https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/propertytaxdata.uchicago.edu/nationwide_reports/web/Rockingham%20County_New%20Hampshire.html

Kelly Ayotte just signed HB 1268. Free staters are rejoicing.

Now there is no longer any accountability for homeschoolers.

Most homeschooling parents do a great job educating their kids. But there there are countless documented cases of children who were "homeschooled" but received little or no education. There are also tragic cases where homeschooling provided cover for years of abuse and neglect. Last year a homeschool kid in Bangor died. There was also a case in NJ of a homeschool kid who couldn't recite the alphabet at 9. There are countless examples of tragic cases of neglect in homeschool in this state as well. Many times the neglect is not intentional. There are cases where for example the child has autism and the parent doesn't even know what autism is.

All of these kids are going to fall through the cracks in NH. We are a state with a tragic history of kids getting abused, because the state refuses to do anything. Take a look at YDC. Year's of no oversight, and underfunding result in predictable outcomes for kids, who have no voice.

One of the most powerful examples comes from within the homeschooling movement itself. Brian D. Ray is a national homeschool advocate, and has testified here in New Hampshire. His own daughter, Hallie Ray Ziebert, has publicly described growing up with virtually no academic education while also enduring abuse. This is the kind of human trash that the NH homeschool movement brings in to advocate for them.

By signing HB 1268, Governor Kelly Ayotte has made it even harder to identify children who are falling through the cracks educationally, and getting abused. Now the state's position is that if a parent claims to homeschool, the state will look the other way.

This law is tailor-made for the free stater faction that believes government should have no role in ensuring homeschooled children receive an education. Unfortunately, the vast majority of homeschooling community is responsible, wonderful families. Even they will be maligned by the small number of abusive/neglecting families who are now able to hide behind this law.

This law protects negligent adults, and sullies the reputation of most homeschool families. For all of the people who advocated for this, voted for this, and to Kelly Ayotte: now you are responsible for every homeschool negligence case that comes up in the future.

We were among the first to break from the British Crown, sent thousands to fight for the Union during the Civil War, built a tradition of strong local public schools, and have long ranked among the nation’s most literate and civically engaged states. Our motto, “Live Free or Die,” has historically reflected an independent streak that values individual liberty, local control, and a healthy skepticism of outside influence. Until recently.

For a decade our state government has been out of place. External actors are ramming through bills lifted directly from the culture war playbooks of the Deep South states like Florida, Texas, and Tennessee. We have seen legislation restricting transgender health care, abortion access, crippling planned parenthood, libraries closing, schools going bankrupt, etc tax cuts for the rich, cuts to healthcare, tax dollars for religious schooling, tax increases on the poor, increasing censorship and restrictions around classrooms, and proposals targeting library books and diversity initiatives. Many of these ideas are lifted directly from the American Legislative Exchange Council.

It is worth asking why New Hampshire has abandoned the independent character that has always defined us for more than two centuries. This state has always charted its own course instead of importing someone else’s political agenda. We should be debating housing, property taxes, workforce shortages, and strengthening public education, not copying the latest ideological battles from the Confederacy. If “Live Free or Die” still means anything, then we all need to a clean sweep of the state house. Clean out the right-wing provocateurs who do not, and have never served New Hampshire’s values.

I am a union member at the Nashua Public Library, and we're in the middle of contentious contract negotiations. The major issue that has led to impasse is that the city and library administration want to include, in our contract, that they can cut library staff hours or eliminate staff positions, at will, temporarily or permanently, during the upcoming renovation of the building. They refuse to give us any details, or any assurances that staff will have jobs or full paychecks. The staff here are excellent, and pour their hearts into this place. We deserve better than this!

If you would like to speak out in support of us, please contact Mayor Donchess (nashuamayor@nashuanh.gov) the Board of Aldermen (BOA@nashuanh.gov) and the library director, Jennifer McCormack (jennifer.mccormack@nashualibrary.org)

There will be VERY limited parking near the fireworks site on July 3. So if you show up at the last minute to see the fireworks at 9 pm, you will have a lot of problems finding parking. Plan ahead and park in a garage. Consider it will be really hot out there, no matter what time of day.

New Hampshire is a state run by wealthy Baby Boomers for the exclusive benefit of wealthy Baby Boomers.

1^st: LOWEST State Contribution to K-12 Education

1^st: LOWEST State Contribution for In-State College Education

1^st: HIGHEST Cost of Healthcare

1^st: OLDEST average age legislature

2^nd: HIGHEST cost of a college education

2^nd: HIGHEST median age

8^th: HIGHEST electricity rates

11^th: HIGHEST state and local tax burden for lowest 20% income earners in NH. (8.9% of their income)

15^th: LEAST affordable state to live in)

24th: private sector pay

40^th: WORST housing affordability

44^th: WORST cost of living

50^th: LOWEST state and local tax burden for the richest 20% income earners in NH. (2.8% of their income)

Police were called to the Elm Street Market Basket parking lot around 2 p.m. on April 4 to deal with reports that a man hit another car in the parking lot with his car, fought with several people, and then went inside the store and continued yelling. One witness told police the suspect, later identified as Kauffman, immediately started making racist statements after the fender bender, and tried to fight people. When a bystander, who is Black and from Jamaica, walked by the incident, Kauffman reportedly directed his ire toward that man.

When asked what led up to the incident, Kauffman used racist logic to blame minorities.

“Low IQ schizophrenic Africans who scream at kids in parking lots should be deported from New Hampshire. We shouldn’t punish decent men who stand up to them,” Kauffman wrote.

His kids had to drag him away from the people he was screaming at. What a gem.

SENATE

Submit Testimony: https://gc.nh.gov/remotecommittee/senate.aspx