Union protests are misleading
January 31. 2018 10:54PM
To the Editor: The New Hampshire teachers union (NEA-NH) claims on its website that a proposed law to create Education Savings Accounts (SB 193) “would rob millions of dollars from our public schools.” A simple financial analysis, however, clearly shows that SB 193 will not result in the dire depletion of resources predicted by NEA-NH.
According to the New Hampshire Department of Education, more than 170,000 students were enrolled in public schools last year and there was approximately one teacher for every 12 students. If just 1 percent of students were to transfer to private schools, 141 fewer public school teachers would be required. Since the average teacher salary in New Hampshire is approximately $57,000, this would reduce instructional costs by about $8 million dollars. SB 193 would allow low-income students to use the state educational allotment (about $3,500 per student) to pay tuition at private schools. If one percent of students transferred, this would cost the state approximately $6 million dollars. A one-percent migration of students from public to private schools, therefore, would actually result in a savings to taxpayers of about $2 million, not even counting non-instructional costs.
SB 193 will take nothing away from students who continue to attend public schools, but it will cause a shift in teachers’ employment from the public to the private sector. Like any effective labor union, NEA-NH protests any legislation that threatens the jobs of its members, but its use of deceptive scare tactics to promote its anti-school choice agenda is extremely misleading.
ARLENE R. QUARATIELLO
Atkinson
