CONCORD, NH — The Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee again refused to accept a federal $10.1 million grant for charter school start-up money.
Republicans on the committee Friday asked to take the grant off the table where it has been for six months but the motion failed along a party-line 7-3 vote.
The request to take the initial $10.1 million grant off the table comes as a new charter school seeks to open in Conway and requested approximately $375,000 of the federal start-up money. The Democrats have maintained the $46 million federal five-year grant would increase state education funding at a time when lawmakers have begun to address fiscal disparity in school funding between rich- and property-poor school districts.
After the vote, Department of Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut, who applied for the grant with the backing of Gov. Chris Sununu, said he is disappointed partisan politics has left charter schools in limbo.
“The Northeast Woodland Chartered Public School is seeking start-up funds under a federal grant in order to educate 120 students who wish to attend this fall,” Edelblut said in a statement. “Because of the party-line vote of the Fiscal Committee, these vital funds remain out of reach, and 120 New Hampshire students may not be able to pursue their best educational path.”
But committee member state Sen. Lou D’Allesandro, D-Manchester, said new charter schools are not the priority as the state continues to grapple with the coronavirus and safely opening public schools this fall.
“Stirring up this conversation at this time is nonsensical,” D’Allesandro said. “Right now there is a great concern about sending kids back to public schools and charter schools share the same concern.”
While the state is working hard to abate the situation, he said, coronavirus still is prevalent in the state and that has to be the priority.
“Getting public education started is a priority,” D’Allesandro said, “forming charter schools at this point in time is not a priority.” The federal money has been a political football since the grant was announced last fall.
Edelblut applied for the grant, which he says would double the number of charter schools in the state, without legislative approval or involvement.
Democrats have expressed concerns that additional charter schools established with the grant money would increase state aid by tens of millions of dollars for the new charter schools and lessen state aid to regular schools. They said that would increase local property taxes to fund education, exacerbating the disparity between rich- and property-poor school districts.
Many charter schools have struggled financially after they were established and the federal start-up money from an earlier federal grant ran out.
Charter schools are not funded by local property taxes as regular public schools are but do receive almost double the per-pupil state education aid.
State Sen. Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, wrote a letter asking the committee to reconsider its position and release the federal grant money.
He notes the Northeast Woodland Chartered School in Conway has 134 applications for the fall semester and is counting on $375,000 in start-up funding from the federal grant.
“The Northeast Woodland Chartered Public School has done a remarkable job recruiting top talented educators and potential students who may be denied educational opportunities by my Democratic colleagues who have refused for months to accept the federal grant,” said Bradley after the vote.
“This is blind partisanship at its worst and I am extraordinarily disappointed because New Hampshire children have become political hostages.”
Sununu also released a statement decrying the vote. The Fiscal Committee will not meet in August but will meet again Sept. 18.
Garry Rayno may be reached at garry.rayno@yahoo.com.
