SB243

As a former teacher at several different day care centers and Head Start, I want to support this bill. Families often cannot afford quality childcare. Often times, families end up quitting their jobs or leaving their children with family/friends. That is a detriment to early childhood development and sometimes results in early childhood trauma. As I am sure you know, early childhood trauma is linked to addiction, low self-esteem, depression and suicide. Let's ensure that the children who will one day be making these decisions, get off to a good start in life. In the short-term, it helps families. In the big picture, it helps future generations.

Please support SB 243, which will streamline the New Hampshire Child Care Scholarship program for parents and providers. This is an important bill that will ensure that families have better access to affordable, quality child care, which in turn will allow adults to return to the workforce. Families in New Hampshire face exceedingly high child care costs. An estimated 16,000 adults are not in the workforce due to a lack of affordable child care. Extensive paperwork and outdated attendance-tracking requirements put unnecessary burdens on both families and providers. This is a barrier to accessing the program and limits the number of families served. SB 243 will streamline paperwork through fast-track applications for families and simplify data entry for providers. It will also reduce processing delays and improve the payment system to child care centers. This bill is beneficial to NH families and child care businesses. Please support SB 243.

Please support vital programs that help support families. The cost of living and caring for children has never been higher. In order for families to survive there must be assistance for the high cost of caring for a child so a parent can work. Please support SB 243. Thank you very much.

This bill addresses the childcare shortage which reduces the ability of people to fill the many open positions in our businesses. Safe, affordable childcare provides employment for the trained childcare workers and enables the working age parent to participate in the workforce.

Can we please prioritize the students that need the most help, and not those already able to afford a good education.

This would streamline an existing program and will help more families access affordable child care in NH.

We need to support nutrition so that all kids can learn!

Families need affordable child care without burdens

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One of the key issues impacting the lives of parents in New Hampshire is the cost and availability of Childcare. This has been a long outstanding issue that needs to be addressed in order for our families to thrive and for businesses in New Hampshire to be successful (and remain here in the Granite State). The child care scholarship program is a step in the right direction. This bill also would also introduce a presumptive eligibility pilot program that allows applicants meeting specific screening criteria to receive scholarship funds while their applications are processed. This would encourage additional participation when the need for additional, qualified Child Care workers in New Hampshire is critical. I would urge you to support SB 243-FN, relative to the child care scholarship program and to bring attention to this critical issue going forward. Thank-you for your service and for your consideration, Royal M. Richardson

We are devastating our public schools with these vouchers. Why do Republicans want to make our public schools fail? Is it so that they can close them down and give more tax cuts to the wealthy?

Education freedom accounts are BAD for the welfare of the general public. SHAME on those that take funding away from public schools and put our tax dollars toward private ones!

SB 243 would streamline the New Hampshire Child Care Scholarship for parents and providers, ensuring Granite State families have better access to the program.

This bill improves access to childcare!

Childcare is a vital resource for our workforce.

I’m f we want to grow our state economy and have families stay in or move to NH then we need to consider the affordability of child care. Support this bill. Thank you!

I support the child care scholarship program.

Child care is an important issue here in NH. Support this bill. Thank you.

As you know, here in New Hampshire, child care can cost as much as $32,000 per year. We do have child care scholarships which help, but mountains of paper work, requirements of up front payments, are a huge burden on middle to low income families. This bill, SB 243 would streamline Child Care Scholarship for both parents and providers, so that our families can have better access to the program. Please vote yes on this bill.

With the impending end of federal Head Start funding, the state must step in an bolster our child care provisions wherever it can. Strongly support.

Let's make child care better together.

Hello I am writing today to urge you to support SB 243. Child care access is essential for working families. Being able to afford care is challenging. It is on par with a college education. Imagine paying $32,000 each year to send an infant and a toddler to childcare. That is the reality of many NH families. Child Care Scholarship can help NH working families but our system is cumbersome and outdated. Families report struggles as they apply for assistance and providers (like myslef) report un-necessary steps to submit scholarship billing weekly. SB 243 Will improve access and affordability to child care as well as improve the scholarship application process for families. SB 243 Will ensure improvements are made to scholarship billing process for child care providers. An incredible amount of time is spent entering hours by day for each child on scholarship. It takes me over 35 clicks to enter each child for billing each week despite being an enrollment based system (where attendance doesn't really matter). Our scholarship system desperately needs improvements both for the families of NH and child care providers! Kindly support SB 243! Thank you

As a licensed child care provider, I frequently hear stories from families about the burdensome nature of the child care scholarship program. While we're all grateful for it's existence, the process for providers and families is challenging. I support efforts to stream line this process to make this program more accessible for all eligible families!

Dear Members of the House Education Committee, I am writing today in strong opposition to SB 295. As a proud graduate of New Hampshire public schools and a parent of two children currently enrolled in our public education system, I deeply value the role these institutions play in our communities. Our family is fortunate; we have the financial means to choose private education if we desired. However, we believe in and support our public schools. We understand that if we want society to be better for our children, we have to make society better for EVERY child and that starts with providing equitable education to ALL children. SB 295 proposes to remove income eligibility caps for the Education Freedom Account (EFA) program, effectively transforming it from a targeted assistance initiative into a universal voucher system. This shift would allow families like mine, who can already afford private schooling, to access public funds, diverting essential resources away from the public schools that serve the majority of New Hampshire's students. You don't have to look far to see why this is a bad idea. In Alabama, over half of the families applying for the new CHOOSE Act vouchers have children ALREADY enrolled in private schools OR being homeschooled, raising concerns about the program's effectiveness in expanding educational access . Similarly, in Ohio, the expansion of the EdChoice Scholarship Program to all students, regardless of income, has led to significant public funds being directed to families who were already utilizing private education. These examples highlight the risk of SB 295: public funds intended to enhance educational opportunities for under-served populations may instead subsidize those who do not require financial assistance, thereby widening inequalities and undermining the public education system. I URGE you to consider the long-term implications of this bill. Let's prioritize strengthening our public schools to ensure they can continue to serve EVERY child effectively, regardless of their family's income level. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Sincerely, Katie DeAngelis Nottingha, NH Resident