In an email sent to legislative leaders last week, the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office wrote that Senate Bill 193 is constitutional.
That opinion comes days before the bill is to be voted on by the House of Representatives.
The bill would allow parents to take their children out of public school and then spend the state tax dollars that would have gone to that public school on other forms of education. That includes private religious schools.
New Hampshire’s constitution includes language that bars the use of tax dollars for sectarian schools. But advocates argue that provision is sidestepped under this bill because the money doesn’t go directly from the state to the school.
Still others, including the New Hampshire ACLU, insist that the bill violates the plain meaning of the state constitution.
The full House of Representatives is expected to vote on the bill this Thursday.
