New Hampshire's education funding bust must be stopped.
April 11th − To the editor:
I am writing in response to your article discussing New Hampshire's Statewide Educational Property Tax (SWEPT) and its impact on various townwide education funding. While I appreciate the attention you have brought to this issue, I believe it is important to provide additional information and address important nuances that may have been overlooked.
I recently attended an information session in Hampton hosted by the NH School Funding Fairness Project. I was shocked to learn that NH as a state falls far short of its (state) constitutional obligation to fund a proper education for our children. Last year, a N.H. court ruled that the state must provide at least $7,356.01 per child in that education funding.
SWEPT was originally claremont Judgments in the 1990s were used as a means to raise funds that the state was obligated to provide. However, it was not SWEPPT's intent to allow individual towns to retain their funds or carry over excess balances. But wealthy towns in New Hampshire eventually lobbied to change SWEPT's fund management, which was granted in 2011, reducing town-to-town disparities not only in property tax rates but also in the quality of education. Expanded.
This history is important because it provides context for the term “donor town”, which is used frequently in the article. Branding wealthy towns that raise excessive amounts of money as “donors” paints a disingenuous picture of reality and suggests voluntary acts of giving, when in reality this is not the case. The SWEPT tax was designed to ensure that the entire state contributes to education funding. Changing the way these funds are managed, allowing them to be retained and withheld, completely defeats the purpose and intent of SWEPT and was ruled last year to violate the NH Constitution.
And as a result of this change, towns where the average home value is around $400,000 may be taxed at more than twice the rate as towns where the average home value is more than $800,000. It is extremely frustrating to know that her two children, who live just a few miles apart, may have vastly different opportunities to receive a quality school education. It just doesn't seem right that if you want to buy an affordable home in New Hampshire, you have to put up with the horribly high tax rates that come with it. All of this is for the sake of children's education, which is overwhelmingly underfunded.
We can do better. we have to do better. We cannot continue to overtax our already struggling neighbors, and we cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the glaring disparities in education funding.
I learned a lot by attending an information session about the NH School Funding Fairness Project held in my town. Those interested in learning more about education funding in our state are encouraged to visit our website or contact us to learn more and join the conversation. And I hope that we can abolish the term “donor town” and start solving this problem together.
sarah elliott
hampton
Thank you to the library for hosting a wonderful solar eclipse event
April 10th − To the editor:
This Monday, our Portsmouth community was given a wonderful opportunity to gather in our public library to celebrate the solar eclipse.
The library has thoughtfully planned both “internal” and “external” events for its audience. His livestream NASA coverage can be viewed inside the library's auditorium, and the gathering can be viewed outside on the library lawn. A huge thank you to Library Director Christine Friese and her. Great to the staff who ran such a seamless organization in delivering such a great program, and who greeted everyone and guided us in such a positive and cheerful manner, and even provided us with extra solar glasses. He made a plan.
Everyone gathered outside chatted, helped people adjust their glasses properly, swapped eclipse stories, played with their canine friends, and generally appreciated the sunny weather and enjoyed nature. We really had a great time watching and just coming along and having the opportunity to witness the wonders of. A great community afternoon.
Kudos to our city and library for sponsoring such a successful day! Bravo, bravo, bravo!
Penny Bartko
portsmouth
Palestine – the other side of the story
April 11th – To the Editor:
Most of us understand the history behind the Jewish homeland. Not many people appreciate the Palestinian story.
Much is said from the fact that “Israel has always been there.” From a Biblical perspective, people claim that the land from the river to the sea belongs to Israel. However, from ancient times until his 1948, Jews were only a part of the region's population. Before Moses, this area was known as Canaan and was inhabited by Canaanites. Under Jewish rule, Judea (including Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple) became the main seat of the Jewish people.
The word “Palestine” was coined by the Greek historian Herodotus in the 5th century BC to define the coastal region from present-day Lebanon to Egypt. He made no distinction between the many inhabitants, including Philistines, Greeks, Syrians, and Assyrians.
In 63 BC, Judea came under Roman control. The Jewish revolt against Rome around 135 AD led to the Jewish diaspora being scattered by the Romans throughout the Middle East, Europe, and North Africa. Anti-Semitism itself spread across Europe in conjunction with the spread of Christianity in the region.
Judea then became known as Syria-Palestine and was home to outcast Jews, Assyrians, and Greeks, the ancestors of modern-day Palestine. In 636, the Muslims conquered Palestine, bringing with them Islam and the Arabic language (500 years after the Jewish outlay; Islam itself had existed since the early 600s AD). In 1517, the Turks conquered the area that had ruled Palestine until about his 20th year. End of World War I. After Turkish rule ended in 1922, the League of Nations gave Britain a mandate to administer Palestine.
With the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe in the late 19th century, European Jews sought British support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. In the early 20th century, the carriers passing through the Suez Canal were primarily British. Britain supported the colonization of Palestine by European Jews. They believed that Jews were sympathetic to British interests rather than local Arabs. In 1917, Britain issued the Balfour Declaration, expressing support for the Jewish people to share their homeland with the indigenous Palestinian people. Britain incorporated the Balfour Declaration into its mandate over Palestine. In 1918, the population of Palestine was 60,000 Jews and 600,000 Arabs. Under the British Mandate, European Jews began immigrating to Palestine. By 1947, there were 630,000 Jews and 1.3 million Arabs.
By 1947, Britain sought relief from surveillance over Palestine and turned to the United Nations for a solution. The United Nations plan calls for two states to divide the territory, consisting of Palestine, which is 42% Arab, and Jewish state, which occupies 56% of the area. This division was biased against Palestinian Arabs, who make up 67% of the population. On May 14, 1948, the state of Israel was born. Today, about 7 million Jews and 7 million Arabs live in an area no bigger than Vermont.
The history of this area is very complex.
James T. Laros
portsmouth
If Israel does not follow the rules of war, the US must stop funding to Israel
April 11th − To the editor:
An Israeli Defense Force (IDF) spokesperson was interviewed by the British Broadcasting Corporation after seven World Community Kitchen aid workers in the Gaza Strip were killed. He said that while the killing was a tragic mistake, the actions of the IDF during the war were among the most ethical in the history of war. And since the war began, the IDF boasted that it had authorized 18,000 truckloads of aid into Gaza.
Before the war, Gaza received 500 truckloads of aid every day. The 18,000 truckloads are equivalent to 36 days of aid over 180 days. Instead of proving how Israel conducted its war ethically, it proves that Israel was intentionally starving the people of Gaza. Even our Secretary of State has said that all of Gaza is facing starvation, although he diplomatically refers to it as food insecurity.
Public broadcaster NewsHour reported that Israel damaged or destroyed 800 schools in the Gaza Strip. Hospitals were unable to operate without fuel for generators and medical supplies.
Israel is a party to the Geneva Conventions. It is time for the United States to stop arming Israel until it is in full compliance with treaties and all international rules of war.
walter hamilton
portsmouth
Peace will only come if Palestinians accept the state of Israel
April 12 − To the editor:
The recent letter by Reverend Grimshaw Jones (April 12th) is appalling on many levels. His opposition to SB 439 is primarily based on the vicious slander directed at Israel and its people. He claims that Israel practices “apartheid” and “ethnic cleansing” and is a “blatantly racist system.” These claims are completely false. It is certainly true that Jews were ethnically cleansed from most Arab countries. However, Israel is a racially and ethnically diverse country with a majority Arab minority. All citizens have the same civil rights, whether they are secular Jews, Jews, Muslims, Druze or Christians. Comparing Israeli society to South African society is absurd, and Grimshaw-Jones should know that.
Pastors would have us believe that the BDS movement is simply a peaceful movement seeking to stop the flow of arms to Israel. That claim is false. BDS activists frequently disrupt, sometimes violently, activities on U.S. campuses. Targets of these activists include Israeli academics attempting to give academic lectures, as well as Israeli dancers and musicians during performances. In October, Jewish students at Cooper Union College had to lock themselves in the school library to protect themselves from a mob of BDS supporters.
Perhaps Grimshaw-Jones should refer to the definition of anti-Semitism drafted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. This definition has been adopted or approved by dozens of national governments and dozens of states in the United States. An example of anti-Semitism presented by the IHRA is “the claim that the existence of the state of Israel is a racist act.” I hope Grimshaw-Jones will open up and accept that Israel is a small Jewish-majority country that deserves to live in peace. But peace will only come if Palestinians and their BDS supporters accept the permanent existence of the state of Israel.
richard england
durham
Let LGBTQ+ Granite Staters live freely.
April 11th – To the Editor:
New Hampshire's state motto, “Live Free or Die,” means that everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, has the right to feel safe and welcome in the community they call home. We need to guarantee freedom and privacy to the people of the Granite State.
I am grateful to live in Sen. Debra Altschiller's district. Because she understands this. As anti-LGBTQ+ bills are debated in the NH Senate, she defended her LGBTQ+ youth and pointed out the hypocrisy of those defending these anti-LGBTQ+ attacks.
Unfortunately, many legislators do not. This Congress has seen a surprising amount of legislation targeted at the LGBTQ+ community. N.H. Senate bans transgender girls from playing on teams that correspond with the gender they live in and forces teenagers who are not ready to talk to their parents about their gender identity to leave school passed a bill requiring schools to do so. These bills will be sent to NH House. The NH House of Representatives has already passed a bill that would ban medical care and referrals for LGBTQ+ individuals, and she plans to introduce it to the NH Senate in April.
Now more than ever, we must continue to support our LGBTQ+ loved ones and community members.
Meredith Murray
Exeter
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