HB2

This budget as proposed includes troubling cuts to Medicare and childcare funding, necessary services for many residents in New Hampshire. With these cuts, working families could be forced to choose between holding down a job and finding childcare, increasing the burden on New Hampshire's most vulnerable. Additionally, the budget increases funding for Education Freedom Account vouchers. Meanwhile, New Hampshire is ranked the lowest in the country for state funding of public schools, leaving our education system struggling to function. Allocating money to these vouchers that could be spent on supporting local school districts will place more pressure onto already struggling taxpayers and leave New Hampshire's students at a disadvantage. Please support a budget proposal that addresses the needs of New Hampshire's children and working families, rather than prioritizing tax breaks for corporations and private school funds for wealthy families. Thank you.

Services like Medicaid, childcare workforce development and public education funding are not only vital from a humanitarian perspective, but also the fiscally responsible choice. Access to affordable childcare will enable more parents to work, allowing more families to build financial stability that will reduce their reliance on government programs. A public school education is in many cases the only resource a student can afford to gain the skills necessary for employment or further education post-graduation. I urge you to please consider how these public services provide many of your constituents with the health and security necessary for creating independent stability.

As a proud graduate of Gilford Public Schools and a proud special education teacher in a public school, I vehemently oppose this bill. Folks certainly have a right to place their children in private schools, but siphoning funds from public education to pay for that choice is unacceptable, as is paying thousands to families who choose to homeschool. Our state taxes should be used to develop or maintain entities that are public for all residents, not to support private educational institutions, charter schools, or to fund home schooling, especially with both minimal parameters and minimal oversight. Having worked in schools where the parents/guardians chose to "homeschool" after DCYS investigated truancy, I see the abuse. Having worked in schools where students left for charter schools, I saw our OT and PT have to leave our school to provide services at the charter school, which caused another financial and personnel drain for the district. And because the charter school was ill-equipped to fulfill its mission, many of those students ended up back in public school, but with even greater gaps in learning. Who does this program really benefit? Wealthy families who are already equipped to pay for private education and wealthy families who are already equipped to buy ski passes and music lessons. And so the gap between rich and poor grows wider. The voucher program in ineffective, harmful, and wasteful for the majority of NH residents. Enough already.

Please remove from the Budget Bill New Section 23 re: OHRV trail closure date in Ct. Lakes Headwaters. "Amend RSA 215-A by inserting after section 3-b the following new section: 215-A:3-c Connecticut Lakes Headway Working Forest OHRV Trail Annual Closure Date. Notwithstanding any provision of law or advisory opinion to the contrary, all OHRV trails on the Connecticut Lakes headwaters working forest property shall remain open until the second Monday in October, which is Columbus Day." It is improper to put such a give-away to a small special interest group into a budget bill. I am clerk of the HB 1188 OHRV Study Commission established in 2022 to review OHRV riding in NH and propose legislation. This proposal was not sent to our commission for review. This commission is carefully made up of all the stakeholders in OHRV riding - businesses, landowners, abutters, conservation, OHRV clubs, Bureau of Trails, F&G, law enforcement. It is a go-around the existing extensive, public process which includes the New Hampshire Fish and Game Commission; the Connecticut Lakes Headwaters Citizens Committee; and Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, Commissioner Stewart. Putting trail dates into statute removes all discretion of the over-seeing agencies. To pass this will be to undermine the OHRV trail siting statutes RSA 215-A, 41, 42, 43, which require Fish and Game support of OHRV riding on public lands. OHRV riders have 18 weeks. Upland bird hunters have only 7 weeks. Proper land management must consider all users. For the reasons listed above, please remove section 23 from HB 2 and send to the OHRV Study Commission for review.

Please support public education and not vouchers!

Please! It’s time to fund our public schools!!

Fully fund public education. It's been over 30 years that we've been waiting for the legislature to fulfill its obligations

Public funds belong in public schools. I think this legislature does need to hear it 50 times, and then perhaps another 50 more for good measure.

I am writing to express my strong opposition to using taxpayer money for private school vouchers in New Hampshire. Diverting public funds to private and religious schools undermines our public education system, reduces accountability, and deepens inequality in educational opportunities. New Hampshire’s public schools serve the vast majority of our students, regardless of their background, income, or ability level. When tax dollars are redirected to private schools through voucher programs, public schools face funding cuts that harm students who rely on them for a quality education. This is especially concerning in rural communities, where public schools are often the only educational option. Unlike public schools, private institutions are not held to the same transparency, accountability, or non-discrimination standards. They can selectively admit students, lack oversight in curriculum, and are not required to provide services for students with disabilities. Public funds should be used to strengthen the schools that serve all students, not subsidize private choices. I urge you to oppose any expansion of voucher programs and instead invest in policies that support public education—such as increasing school funding, improving teacher salaries, and expanding mental health services. Strong public schools benefit all of New Hampshire, and our tax dollars should remain committed to them. Thank you for your time and consideration. I appreciate your service to our state and look forward to your response.

The annual income of any household that has a student eligible for the Education Freedom Account should met the income threshold every year.

We need more funding for public education, not vouchers for privatized-for profit, schools!!

We need a budget that supports public education and not the expansion of the voucher plan

I write to strongly oppose the reduction in state funding for the USNH system. I work at Plymouth State and we are struggling financially. Cutting funding to this school will reduce our enrollment, maybe even causing us to close, and this university is the central economic driver of this town and region. Members of the PSU community drive the local and regional economies, including the tourist economy, and we want to encourage college-educated graduates to stay in New Hampshire and work. Supporting our USNH system is equivalent to supporting our state's economic future.

Our schools and Medicaid programs need funding now more than ever. With a likely absence of Federal funding, the states need to step in and do what they can to help. Please fund these vital programs.

As a student studying to become a teacher, and this bill affecting my education to do that, I find this a HORRIBLE way to support education in this state. I'm appalled at the idea that this kind of funding is being cut from education.

The Governor's proposed budget will undermine the living standards of Medicaid recipients and weaken our econony. Our state's most vulerable citizens rely on Medicaid to support healthcare and nursing home care. Medicaid recipients can not afford these cost increases. Additionally, this budget will result in further cuts to our underfunded university system, thereby increasing the likihood that our young adults will continue leaving the state for higher education. At a time when our labor pool is declining due to our aging population, we need younger residents to stay and work in New Hampshire. The inmigration to our state is not sufficient to meet the labor needs and fuel a healthy economy. This budgeted is both shortsighted and inhumane. I urge the Committee to oppose HB 1 and HB2. Sincerely, Sheryl Shirley

I do not want expansion of voucher system.

Why would we cap public education? Where is that money better spent than the youth of tomorrow? The roads that get demolished every winter? The higher education which we are in the process of trying to strip for parts? The homes that no one can afford? The infrastructure that is so outdated it violates so many common safety codes like stuff like simply having a ramp for wheel chair accessibility?

I am opposed to the removal of the various organizations and associations and their ability to nominate candidates for the Wetlands Council. (pages 67 and 68)

I oppose any sneaky riders into the budget that put in place things the people of New Hampshire have explicitly made clear that we don’t want. We do not want universal education vouchers. We do not want vouchers at all. We want reproductive health rights. We want abortion to remain legal in this state and easily accessible.

I am against the expansion of the school voucher program