We’ve had two years of great progress in the Legislature, by Molly Kelly
Keene Sentinel
Friday, May 30, 2008
As the legislative session in Concord comes to an end, I look back and see that we have much to celebrate.
During the past two years, we met the N.H. Supreme Court mandate by successfully defining an adequate education and identifying the cost. For the first time, we created legislation that promises to provide a quality education by first answering the question, what is important for our children to learn? Our next step was determining the cost of that education, and we did. This legislation provides every child with an equal opportunity to an education regardless of what school they attend and regardless of the wealth or the poverty of the school district. Next year is a budget year and I remain confident that we will transition our current funding system to a new constitutional one in the most fair and equitable manner.
We have passed legislation that benefits students in all phases of their education. Public kindergarten is now a part of adequacy, ensuring that young children will have access to the kind of early childhood learning that sets the stage for future academic success. I led the way for legislation that would guarantee safety in our schools. This legislation mandates annual fire inspections in all schools and provides a process of open communication between the community, the schools and the state. The goal of this bill is to address safety issues, to plan accordingly and responsibly. We passed legislation that helps college students by increasing funding for our community colleges and the university system. We also lowered interest rates on college student loans. A well-rounded education policy lends itself to a strong state economy.
In order to continue to provide economic viability and innovation in our community, I supported legislation that establishes research and development tax credits for businesses and reinstated our job training program. I pushed to increase the minimum wage and supported legislation that establishes affordable workforce housing. We also passed HealthFirst, an affordable wellness-based health insurance plan for small employers.