The Biden Administration is making it harder for NH seniors to go to college

By. Sens. Sharon Carson and Ruth Ward

Ronald Reagan used to say, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”

The Biden Administration is proving the Gipper right again by bungling a program that was supposed to streamline the college financial aid process for students and their families. Instead, the federal Department of Education has so botched the redesign of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) that graduating seniors across New Hampshire and the nation have been left in limbo with no idea how much aid is available for their college plans.

FAFSA was meant to be a one-stop application for college students to apply for all forms of need-based financial aid, giving their families a complete picture of their eligibility for the various scholarships and grants that are available. Knowing the amount of aid they had, and what the family would be expected to contribute, would allow families to make informed decisions when deciding where to go to college.

In 2020, Congress passed the FAFSA Simplification Act, which reduced the number of questions from 100 to about 40, while expanding the eligibility criteria. That gave the Biden Administration three years to get the new form online, with a deadline at the end of 2023. But making FAFSA work wasn’t a priority for the Biden bureaucracy.

The system didn’t work when they tried on December 30 to turn it on. It’s still giving families problems. The form won’t accept some submissions. It requires Social Security numbers from both the student’s parents and won’t accept an application if one parent doesn’t have a Social Security number. An estimated 30% of submitted applications produce inaccurate results. Former Obama Department of Education official Ted Mitchell calls the FAFSA situation “a rolling catastrophe.”

President Biden and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona simply haven’t been giving the unfolding FAFSA fiasco their full attention. They have been preoccupied with their unconstitutional quest to pay off student loans for their political supporters. Trying to work around the Supreme Court apparently takes a lot of attention.

By forcing students into a single federal financial aid application, the Biden Administration has created what engineers call a single point of failure. And this colossal failure has led to massive backlogs. With no reliable information on their financial aid package, students across the country have no idea what college options they can afford.

The FAFSA Simplification Act was meant to expand use of the system to more students considering higher education, Instead, completed FAFSA applications are down more than 26% in New Hampshire and down 36% nationally. The problem is not limiting to this year’s graduating seniors. Returning college students who relied on financial aid are left wondering if that same help will be available for the fall semester. They are understandably reluctant to return to campus without knowing the potential cost.

While the Biden Administration scrambles to clean up its own mess, others are stepping up to help students left in the lurch. Universities have pushed back their admissions deadlines. The New Hampshire House and Senate have each passed legislation removing the FAFSA application from the state’s graduation requirements, meaning no graduating senior will be denied the diploma they’ve earned because they weren’t able to complete some federal paperwork.

But there’s only so much we can do until the Biden Administration gets the FAFSA application online and working. The Biden Administration official behind the rollout abruptly resigned last week as Congress was beginning an investigation into the debacle. We need answers on what went wrong. But New Hampshire college students need answers on how much financial aid they can count on as they make decisions about their future this spring.

Sen. Sharon Carson (R-Londonderry) represents District 14 and is Senate Majority Leader. Sen. Ruth Ward (R-Stoddard) represents District 8 and is Chair of the Senate Education Committee.

Bill To Require School Boards Offer Regular Public Comment

CONCORD – A bill was heard Tuesday by the Senate Education Committee that would require a thirty-minute public comment period at the beginning of all school board meetings.

Supporters said a structure for such civic discourse would be beneficial and “calm the waters” which have been pretty choppy the past few years with COVID-19 issues, mask mandates, plummeting academic scores, remote learning, and vaccination issues.

But the New Hampshire School Boards Association opposed Senate Bill 410.

Sen. Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry, said she offered Senate Bill 410 after observing what was happening at school board meetings this summer and fall, largely because of concerns of parents related to COVID-19 decisions and restrictions and impacts to education. She said if public comment periods are offered, it is often at the end of the meeting which ends late when parents should be at home with their kids.

What has fueled a lot of the dissent at the meetings, she said, is that parents feel they are not being heard and that has led to arguments, in part because they do not get a chance to speak.

“We just have to do this better and I thought this was a good place to start,” Carson said of her bill.

Barrett M. Christina, executive director of the New Hampshire School Boards Association, opposed the bill on behalf of the association while stressing that they do not oppose public comment. Most boards already do this, he said.

“We feel there should be some policy that carves out time place and scope of the public comment period,” he said.

Some boards do not have a policy and think this is a local issue.

He said the organization sent out a survey to school administrative unit offices and heard back from about half.

“School boards are already doing this across the state,” Barrett stated, noting that some are limiting public testimony to three minutes per speaker.

He said there could be some problems if the bill is made law including emergency meetings, called, say if there is a roof that caves in from an ice storm.

“We have to hold a 30 minute public comment period before that? It doesn’t make sense,” he said.

The state Board of Education has not taken public comment in at least about a year, he noted.

“They’ve been shut down,” he said. “It’s not just local school boards.”

Steve Young of Londonderry spoke in support of the bill.

Young said he served for 18 years on the Londonderry School District and it never offered a public comment period during his tenure but allowed for comments along with announcements at the end of meetings.

As chair, he said he would always call for the public comment before an important vote, “but not everybody feels that way.”

He supported the idea of creating a public comment requirement with a time limit allowed.

He said offering the public a comment allows for less friction and more consensus.

Recessing meetings for people to stop talking or walking out of the room and adjourning because of public comment is unacceptable.

Young said presentations and announcements at the beginning of a meeting could also add a public comment, with or without a time constraint, because meetings should not be held up by some artificial 30-minute time frame but there could be limits to how long people can speak.

“I think it could be nice to have more open communication,” he said

Sen. Jay Kahn, D-Keene, said it sounds like there is a principle here that public comment ought to be allowed. Timing, order, seem secondary to the principle.

Bob Slater of Londonderry, a current school board member but speaking on behalf of himself, supported the bill.

He said it has been a rough year on the board and there has been a lot of inconsistency in public comment access.

“Up until about 60 days ago, we did not have a public comment period,” he said. He proposed it be on the agenda and it was adopted.

He said it stops the confusion and questions and is offered after announcements as a separate segment at the end of each meeting.

Slater supported the bill noting 30 minutes has worked out for them with limits of three minutes per speaker.

“We’ve gotten close to 30 minutes in the past. But it is so important to hear from the parents,” he stressed.

The consistency would help “try to keep some peace in the community.”

“The more you listen,” he said, the more you “calm the waters.”

Diana Fenton, attorney for the office of governance for the state Department of Education, was asked by the chair to talk about the code of ethics provisions within the bill.

She said the state Board of Education does not have direct oversight over school board members across the state.

“They are elected officials and are governed by the ballot box,” Fenton said.

She noted that the department created documents of a code of ethics directed at teachers not elected officials.

“We have nothing to impose if anything would be violated,” she said.

But with teachers, a credential is attached to the code.

The committee meets Wednesday and plans to vote out of committee a number of bills including this one.

On Tuesday the Senate Education Committee did vote to recommend to the Senate that SB 394 pass, relative to changing the age of majority to 21 for those with disabilities and SB 384, a technical change to the definition of tuitions as requested by the Department of Education.

Carson Pleased with Senate Support for Hudson CTE Center

Concord, NH – Today the New Hampshire Senate passed HB 1182, a bill that included the funding to complete the Hudson Career and Technical Education (CTE) center. Senator Sharon Carson (R-Londonderry) issued the following statement:

“I am happy for the students who will benefit from the opportunities that are offered at the Hudson Career and Technical Education Center,” said Senator Sharon Carson (R-Londonderry). “This CTE center provides young adults across the region a valuable resource where they can thrive and give them the skills they need to get high demand, well-paying jobs. This legislation will allow the Hudson CTE project to remain on schedule and continue to give a top educational opportunity for the students of New Hampshire.”

Carson applauds senate support for Hudson CTE funding

Concord, NH – Today, the New Hampshire Senate passed SB 435-FN-A, making a supplemental appropriation to the department of education for the purpose of funding the Hudson CTE center. Senator Sharon Carson (R-Londonderry), prime-sponsor of the legislation, issued the following statement:

“The Hudson Career and Technical Education Center is a valuable resource to the children of Hudson and across the region,” said Senator Sharon Carson (R-Londonderry), prime-sponsor of the legislation. “Due to a technical issue, the CTE center did not receive the full funding it expected in the last Capital Budget and this legislation will remedy that concern. If enacted into law, the appropriation from this bill will allow the project to remain on schedule and give children interested in a technical education the opportunity they deserve.”

Senate Republicans support funding stabilization grants for schools

Concord, NH – Today, the New Hampshire Senate passed SB 309-FN-L, a bill to restore stabilization grants to 2012 levels. After passage the bill was tabled. Senator Regina Birdsell (R-Hampstead), prime sponsor of the legislation, Senator Bob Giuda (R-Warren) and Senator Sharon Carson, co-sponsors of the legislation, issued the following statements:

“I am pleased the Senate has voted to restore stabilization grants to communities across New Hampshire who have been paying some of the highest property tax rates in the state.” said Senator Regina Birdsell (R-Hampstead), prime sponsor of the legislation. “While we need to find a permanent fix to the funding formula, this legislation will provide the resources many of our school districts need to keep our public school system the best in the country. It is disappointing this bill was tabled rather than go straight to the House for a vote, but it is my hope that stabilization grants will be made a priority in the budget.”

“Stabilization grants are a critical piece of New Hampshire’s school funding, particularly for towns in the North Country which struggle with high property tax rates in order to fund public education,” said Senator Bob Giuda (R-Warren), co-sponsor of the legislation. “I am proud to co-sponsor this legislation that will provide some of the highest taxed towns some relief while the state looks to a permanent fix for the funding formula. I look forward to working with the Senate Finance Committee to make sure this critical funding is a part of the budget that passes this year.”

“The New Hampshire education funding formula is not working, but the stabilization grants have been one tool the state has used to ensure every child has an adequate education,” said Senator Sharon Carson (R-Londonderry), a co-sponsor of the legislation. “Unfortunately, the stabilization grants have been getting smaller each year and our school systems cannot afford another cut. I am thankful for Senator Birdsell for submitting this legislation and am proud to have cast a vote today to support a great education system for our children.”