Granite Staters Reject State Funds
to Help Students Attend Private or Religious Schools
By: Bruce Mallory
Carsey Institute Director
Professor of Education
February 9, 2012
Durham, NH – The key education initiative before the New Hampshire Legislature this year is a proposed Education Tax Credit, HB 1607 in the House and SB 372 in the Senate. If passed, the program would offer tax credits on the Business Profits Tax to businesses that contribute scholarship funds for New Hampshire students to attend private or religious schools or home schools.
The findings below are based on the latest WMUR Granite State Poll, conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. Five hundred twenty-seven (527) randomly selected New Hampshire adults were interviewed by landline and cellular telephone between January 25 and February 2, 2012. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 4.3 percent.
The survey found there was very little support among New Hampshire voters for using state funds to help students attend private school. Public school parents were very satisfied with their local schools and were even more opposed than all voters to using state money to help students attend private schools.
State Funds To Help Students Attend Private/Religious Schools
The underlying proposition of the Education Tax Credit legislation being considered in the New Hampshire Legislature is that the State of New Hampshire would use its funds to help students attend private school. There is virtually universal opposition to this proposition among New Hampshire voters.
Among all voters, the proposition is opposed by a margin of more than two to one - 55% are opposed, 23% support, and 22% don’t know or have no opinion. Conservative voters also oppose the program, 44% to 37%.
Public school parents could be seen as the main beneficiaries of the proposed program. However, among public school parents, opposition is almost three to one, 58% to 19%, where 23% do not know or have no opinion.
Tax Credits to Businesses That Help Students Attend Private/Religious Schools
Voters do not support using tax credits to help students attend private schools. Among all voters, only 27% support the idea. Another 41% oppose and 32% have no opinion. This view is shared across the political spectrum.
There is also little support among parents for the tax credit proposal. Only 24% are in favor while 44% oppose, and 32% have no opinion or don’t know.
Satisfaction With Quality of Education in New Hampshire and the United States
New Hampshire’s parents are satisfied with their local public schools, with 68% of public school parents saying that they are at least somewhat satisfied with their local schools. Only 30% were at least somewhat dissatisfied. Two percent were neutral or had no response.
Among all voters, 56% were at least somewhat satisfied, 27% were at least somewhat dissatisfied, and 17% were neutral or had no response. There were similar levels of support across the political spectrum.
Voters expressed much less satisfaction with U.S. schools overall, with 35% at least somewhat satisfied and 47% at least somewhat dissatisfied.
