HB 1358

House Majority Leader Jason Osborne (R-Auburn) — the second most powerful Republican in the NH House — introduced this bill, and he's been remarkably honest about what it does. When asked about the endless fights over education funding, he said converting all schools to charters would make those debates "go away." He's right: you can't underfund public schools if there are no public schools.

The bill has two parts, and both are dangerous. First, it creates a commission to study converting every public school in New Hampshire to a charter school. Second — and this is the part that could actually take effect immediately — it lowers the threshold for converting a school to charter from a 2/3 supermajority to a simple majority vote, and moves that vote from town meeting (where informed community members show up) to the general election ballot (where it can be buried among dozens of other items).

Charter schools in NH are publicly funded but privately managed. They don't have to follow the same rules as public schools on teacher certification, curriculum standards, or collective bargaining. Converting all schools to charters would eliminate democratic local control over education, end teacher unions, and hand public education money to private management organizations.

This bill is the quiet part said loud. The free-state movement's endgame for education isn't reform — it's elimination. And the House Majority Leader is the one carrying the bill.