Secretary of Education Linda McMahon visited a few public and private Manchester schools on Thursday as part of a nationwide school tour. While some families were supportive of Republicans’ initiatives for school choice programs, others echoed the Democrats’ argument that these programs harm public education.
As the federal government has plans to implement a nationwide school tax credit program next year, McMahon spoke in support of school choice programs already in place in New Hampshire, including the school voucher program.
“The states are the innovators,” she said. “I think what New Hampshire shows us is the more choice you have, the more opportunity that parents have to make sure that they are getting the very best education for their students that they can.”
During a roundtable discussion with local and state officials, families Trinity High School and St. Joseph Junior High spoke in support of the voucher program, saying it helped them pay for tuition and supplies.
Student Andrew Garand is the third in his family to attend Trinity, with two older siblings who already graduated, and two younger ones who also are part of the school voucher program. He said he likes to “push the envelope” as much as he can and hopes to enroll in college credit classes next semester.
“It's nice to have the option that you get to support your faith at a nice school,” Garand said. “You get to have one-on-ones with your teachers and good guidance counselors help set you up for college.”
But for other Manchester families, the school voucher program takes funding away from public schools. Building the Manchester budget this year was a long and tense process, partially driven by long overdue renovations for the city’s middle schools.
Southside Middle School parent Christina Goodwin spoke with her son and decided to keep him home from school during McMahon’s visit. She said she didn’t agree with McMahon’s visit or her support of the voucher program during a press conference held by Democrats at Derryfield park, across the street from Trinity and St. Joseph.
“Our public schools are already punching above their weight with extremely limited resources, and vouchers just make their job harder,” she said. “Republicans choose to spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars subsidizing private education for wealthy families, while our public schools continue to educate the vast majority of New Hampshire children.”
As a ballot question on the school budget tax cap looms in a few weeks, funding for public schools is top of mind for many voters.
