| New Hampshire HOME | LAWS | ORGANIZATIONS | CASES | LEGISLATION |
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| House | Senate | ||
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Sponsors:
Representatives Bettencourt, Hill, Smith, D. McGuire, O'Brien, Tucker, Bates, Silva, and Chandler |
Sponsors:
Senators Forsythe and De Blois |
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Summary:
HB 1607 would allow homeschool parents to receive a scholarship for educational expenses from student scholarship organizations. These student scholarship organizations receive scholarship funds from businesses who receive a tax credit against their business profits tax for making contributions to the student scholarship organizations. |
Summary:
See House Summary |
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Status:
01/04/2012 (House) Introduced and referred to the Ways and Means Committee |
Status:
01/04/2012 (Senate) Introduced and referred to the Education Committee |
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HSLDA's Position:
Support. |
HSLDA's Position:
Support. SB 372 would make New Hampshire the first state of the country to allow scholarship tuition organizations to provide for scholarships for homeschooled students to help defray expenses incurred by homeschooling parents. Your help is needed to advance this legislation that would benefit homeschooling families. SB 372 is modeled after legislation that has been passed in numerous states designed to give parents flexibility and choices when it comes to selecting private education for their children. Legislation like SB 372 puts private educational opportunities on a more equal financial footing. This legislation allows for the creation of charitable scholarship organizations that receive donations from businesses that could take a tax credit for these donations. The charities would then grant funds in response to applications from families who privately educate their children and meet the means-testing requirement. Homeschools would be eligible to receive grants up to a certain amount for expenses incurred for privately educating their children. Homeschooling families make great sacrifices to deliver an excellent education yet are taxed for public schools which they rarely if ever use. This legislation provides an opportunity for some homeschooling families to receive scholarships for expenses making homeschooling more affordable for all. The bill is reportedly scheduled for an executive session in the Senate Education Committee next week. Senators Stiles and Prescott have supported homeschooling in the past, but are not co-sponsors of the bill, so we are not sure where they stand. Let them know that research done by the National Home Education Research Institute has indicated that the average amount of expenditure per homeschooling student per year $600. This research was done years ago and with inflation it is likely that expenses have increased. We are asking you to help make history and contact Senators Stiles and Prescott to strongly encourage them to support SB 372. |
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Action Requested:
None at this time |
Action Requested:
None at this time |
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Background:
HSLDA supports tax credit legislation. Tax credits are not considered government money and thus carry virtually no risk of increased regulation on homeschooling. The bill will assist families who wish to escape from public schools be better able to choose homeschooling instead of enrolling in public school programs. Furthermore the bill explicitly states that schools that receive scholarships are not "agents of the state" subject to further regulation by virtue of participating in this program. |
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