‘They can do it elsewhere’: Advocates rally against special education cuts to local schools

Kearsarge student Hunter Gebo addresses the crowd at the State House gathered on Tuesday to advocate against state cuts to special education funding. Gebo talked about growing up with special education, everything from speech therapy to sign language to help from paraprofessionals.

Kearsarge student Hunter Gebo addresses the crowd at the State House gathered on Tuesday to advocate against state cuts to special education funding. Gebo talked about growing up with special education, everything from speech therapy to sign language to help from paraprofessionals. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Sarah Georges of UNH Leadership Series urges the group of special education advocates to march around the State House after their rally at the State House on Tuesday, January 13, 2025.

Sarah Georges of UNH Leadership Series urges the group of special education advocates to march around the State House after their rally at the State House on Tuesday, January 13, 2025. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Amber MacQuarrie (left), joined by a sign language interpreter, said she supports and uses Education Freedom Accounts but believes school choice should extend to public school students who need special education.

Amber MacQuarrie (left), joined by a sign language interpreter, said she supports and uses Education Freedom Accounts but believes school choice should extend to public school students who need special education. Charlotte Matherly—Concord Monitor

One of the protesters in the crowd at the State House gathered on Tuesday to advocate against state cuts to special education funding.

One of the protesters in the crowd at the State House gathered on Tuesday to advocate against state cuts to special education funding. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Colby Dudal addresses the crowd at the State House gathered on Tuesday to advocate against state cuts to special education funding.

Colby Dudal addresses the crowd at the State House gathered on Tuesday to advocate against state cuts to special education funding. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Broken Ground student Bodhi Bhattarai gets ready to adresss the crowd at the State House gathered on Tuesday to advocate against state cuts to special education funding.

Broken Ground student Bodhi Bhattarai gets ready to adresss the crowd at the State House gathered on Tuesday to advocate against state cuts to special education funding. GEOFF FORESTER – Monitor staff

Kearsarge student Hunter Gebo addresses the crowd at the State House gathered on Tuesday to advocate against state cuts to special education funding. Gebo talked about growing up with special education, from speech therapy to sign language to help from paraprofessionals.

Kearsarge student Hunter Gebo addresses the crowd at the State House gathered on Tuesday to advocate against state cuts to special education funding. Gebo talked about growing up with special education, from speech therapy to sign language to help from paraprofessionals. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Broken Ground student Bodhi Bhattarai gets a round of applause after he adressed the crowd at the State House gathered on Tuesday to advocate against state cuts to special education funding.

Broken Ground student Bodhi Bhattarai gets a round of applause after he adressed the crowd at the State House gathered on Tuesday to advocate against state cuts to special education funding. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Sarah Georges of UNH Leadership Series leads the group of special education advocates marching around the State House after their rally at the State House on Tuesday, January 13, 2025.

Sarah Georges of UNH Leadership Series leads the group of special education advocates marching around the State House after their rally at the State House on Tuesday, January 13, 2025. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Sarah Georges of UNH Leadership Series leads the group of special education advocates marching around the State House after their rally at the State House on Tuesday.

Sarah Georges of UNH Leadership Series leads the group of special education advocates marching around the State House after their rally at the State House on Tuesday. GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor staff

Sarah Georges (center) of UNH Leadership Series gets congratulations for leading a group of special education advocates around the State House after their rally at the State House on Tuesday, January 13, 2025.

Sarah Georges (center) of UNH Leadership Series gets congratulations for leading a group of special education advocates around the State House after their rally at the State House on Tuesday, January 13, 2025. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

By CHARLOTTE MATHERLY

Monitor staff

Published: 01-14-2025 2:49 PM

Modified: 01-14-2025 4:01 PM


Twelve-year-old Hunter Gebo clutched a sheet of paper and dragged his gloved index finger along the sentences, reading to a crowd of about 100 people outside the New Hampshire State House.

For Hunter, who has a hearing disability and struggled to speak until he was about 7, it was his first time sharing his story publicly. The seventh-grader at Kearsarge Regional Middle School talked about growing up with special education – everything from speech therapy to sign language to help from paraprofessionals, who are trained to assist teachers and care for special education students.

Hunter and the rest of the crowd gathered on Tuesday to advocate against state cuts to special education funding. Local school districts say they are facing financial shortfall because the state has failed to keep up with rising costs.

“It really makes me mad to think about the kids who will not be able to have the same opportunities that I had to help them live better lives,” Hunter

His mom, Nancy Glynn, organized the rally and is the local campaign director for MomsRising, an advocacy organization that focuses on issues affecting women, children and families. The rally specifically targeted cuts to the reimbursements that local school districts receive from the state.

As part of its special education funding system, the state sets aside a certain amount to help local school districts cover expensive services that they’re required by law to offer. These costs have risen significantly in recent years – from $34.5 million in 2021-22 to $50.2 million last school year – but the state has declined to increase the amount of money it sets aside to reimburse school districts, holding its appropriation at $33.9 million for the last three years.

After the rally, some attendees marched into the State House and stood outside Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s office, chanting “no cuts, no excuses” and “special education matters.”

Ayotte has made clear she’ll pursue budget cuts in many departments and areas, saying the state needs to “live within our means.” Advocates, however, say special education funding shouldn’t be on the chopping block. 

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“If they’re going to be making cuts, they can do it elsewhere, but this is not the community that’s going to be doing it,” Glynn said.

Advocates say cuts to special education funding will deny children with disabilities critical opportunities and will result in fewer teachers and paraprofessionals, leading to employee burnout.

“These cuts don’t just strain our budgets; they jeopardize the futures of every student in an educational setting,” said Louis Esposito, the executive director of Able NH, which advocates for disability justice. “Underfunding creates impossible choices for schools to either cut essential services or overextend already strained staff. We cannot allow that to happen.”

The state’s proration rate – the ratio of eligible funds from local school districts to available money from the state – dropped by 19 percentage points this fall. That means school districts will get significantly less help from the state than they expected. The Concord School District, for example, will receive $55,000 less than anticipated. In Bow, the difference is $122,000.

Those reimbursements to local schools, formerly called “catastrophic aid,” account for the smallest portion of the four forms of special education funding in New Hampshire. During the 2022-23 school year, they amounted to 3.7% of the $915 million spent on special education expenses statewide.

Despite being the smallest bucket of funding, the costs those reimbursements are designed to cover can be the most crippling and unpredictable for school districts, especially small ones.

Local officials have warned that tax bills may rise to make up the difference. In 2022-23, local property taxes accounted for 82.2% of special education spending. State adequacy aid and federal aid each covered about 7 percent.

Sen. Cindy Rosenwald, a Democrat from Nashua, stopped by the rally before it started. She argued that New Hampshire doesn’t need to make these cuts. People from other states have told her they’re making budget cuts or losing services – some of which Rosenwald said the Granite State has never even had.

“We run such a lean government,” she said, adding that the state needs to find savings and efficiencies elsewhere so it can fund education.

Amber MacQuarrie, a mom from Manchester who has homeschooled her 15-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter since they began their education, told the crowd that she believes that school choice and alternative methods of schooling should extend to children in public school who need special education.

“I’m here as a mother whose children have never stepped foot inside a public school setting, demanding that special education in our public schools be funded because all of our children deserve equitable education, no matter the educational pathway their families choose,” she said.

MacQuarrie typically advocates more for school choice – their family was recently accepted into the Education Freedom Account program – but she doesn’t want to see parents fighting over which group or which funding should draw the short straw.

“I balk at overregulation towards homeschoolers and underfunding of public schools because all options should be available since not every child is the same,” MacQuarrie said. “Too often, I see parents pitted against each other, fighting about which way to educate our children is best, and that’s such a distraction. The real problem isn’t how or where you educate your child. That’s a personal choice. It’s the structure of funding in our state that’s a problem.”

She doesn’t know what the solution is, but she urged legislators to find one that covers all students’ needs.

 

Charlotte Matherly is the statehouse reporter for the Concord Monitor and Monadnock Ledger-Transcript in partnership with Report for America. Follow her on X at @charmatherly, subscribe to her Capital Beat newsletter and send her an email at cmatherly@cmonitor.com.