School Choice for NH Legislator Report Card 2018 - Granite Grok

School Choice for NH Legislator Report Card 2018

Report Card

We are pleased to release our third annual Legislator Report Card! Grades are based on this session’s school-choice bills with roll-call votes. We followed and reported on many more issues and bills throughout the year, but only roll-call votes provide direct accountability of individual Representatives and Senators.

As previously mentioned, 2018 was a strong year for educational opportunities in New Hampshire. For an overall review of this year’s outcomes, read 2018 Highlights Part 1 which features our community successes and 2018 Highlights Part 2 which covers additional school-choice legislation.

As it pertains to legislative outcomes, most roll-call votes were divided along party lines. Therefore, the handful of roll-call votes were strongly supported by Republicans, with Democrats against with notable exceptions on both sides of the aisle. On a national basis, the forefront of school choice is often politically polarized, although not among constituents. In a January 2018 poll, 63% of likely voters support educational opportunities. Many Democratic voters support school choice and are working to depoliticize the issue. A poll by Education Next released in August 2018 shows broad support of “wider choice” for public-school families to access private options. Families concentrate on their children and want the best for them; political affiliation and agendas are irrelevant in this context.

School Choice for New Hampshire is a 501c4 non-profit that believes every child deserves an opportunity for an education that fits his or her unique needs. We inform, engage, and empower families, community leaders, and concerned citizens with educational opportunities that benefit children in our state as well as efforts that may expand or restrict these options. We are non-partisan and not affiliated with any political party. We also do not endorse candidates, but hope our Report Card is an informative tool for evaluating legislators and holding them accountable.


Methodology

School-choice votes are not limited to only those that involve where a child may be educated; that is the narrowest definition of school choice. It also pertains to the funding mechanisms that empower choice, who has the authority make those decisions, and other issues that impact educational opportunities, diversity, and innovation. School choice also encourages accountability to families and empowers them to direct their children’s education. Our annual Legislator Report Cards reflect this broader view of educational opportunities.

We analyzed, monitored, testified, and reported on approximately a dozen bills during the 2018 legislative session. Of those, three had roll-call votes in the House and four were roll-called in the Senate. These votes alone do not provide a complete picture of a legislator’s support or opposition to school choice; the sample size is too small and cannot cover the entire scope in a given year.

Throughout the session we used stars to indicate a bill’s potential impact to school choice. This is applied to roll-call votes to create a weighted score. Three-star bills, the most critical ones, have a 100% value. Two-star bills have an 80% value. One-star bills have a 60% value, and bills without any star – but still significant to our efforts – receive 40% value. Not voting and excused are not penalized, but missing more than 60% of the weighted votes qualifies as an “incomplete.” The Speaker of the House does not receive a grade because he presided over the sessions and did not vote.

The grading scale is based on a traditional academic report card with the letter grade breakdowns as follows: 97% and higher is an A+, 93-96% is an A, 90-92% is an A-, and so on. These finer gradations provide more distinction and clarity between various legislators. Legislators that received a B or higher are generally those that support educational opportunities, empowering families, accountability to families, and educational diversity. Those that received a C are fickle or support only some school-choice issues. Those that received a D or lower are opposed to school choice, seek to restrict educational options, and want to give more authority to the state.

Those legislators that earned a three-year average of A- or above have a star by their name, indicating they are on our Three-Year Honor Roll.


Report Card Grades

HOUSE: If a Representative earned an A- or above for a three-year average, a star appears by their name, indicating they are on our Three-Year Honor Roll. To find your Representatives, go to Who’s My Legislator.

              2018 Legislator Report Card – House, by Name 

              2018 Legislator Report Card – House, by District

 

SENATE: If a Senator earned an A- or above for a three-year average, a star appears by their name, indicating they are on our Three-Year Honor Roll. To find your Senator, go to Who’s My Senator.

              2018 Legislator Report Card – Senate, by Name

For House and Senate Roll Calls Please visit the source article here at School Choice for NH.

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