We request that the New Hampshire Board of Education lift the moratorium on charter schools and hear the applications of new Charter Schools.

We request that the New Hampshire Legislature increase the total amount of funding available to support the increased demand for Public Charter Schools.

There is a demand in New Hampshire for Public Charter Schools. Parents want innovation and creativity for their children. Students want to be challenged, stimulated, and engaged in a learning environment that meets their needs and promotes academic success.

In 2010, the Federal government awarded the state of New Hampshire an $11.6 million grant which would provide start-up funding for several new schools. The State of New Hampshire had set a goal of opening twenty new charter schools with the help of this money. The new moratorium placed on charter school approval puts several million dollars of this grant money in jeopardy.

In May 2011, a group of parents from the Exeter Area formed the Friends of the Seacoast High School for the Arts Board of Directors and began drafting the Charter Application to open Seacoast High School for the Arts. This public charter school proposes a curriculum that will inspire the creative potential in every student though an Arts-integrated Curriculum that uses music, theater, dance, visual arts, and film to inspire understanding in all academic subject areas.

In February 2012, the Seacoast High School for the Arts (SHSA) application was submitted to the New Hampshire Department of Education. After two legal reviews and a peer review, in May 2012 the DOE accepted the Seacoast High School for the Arts application as complete. In doing so they deemed the School ready to move on for a meeting with the Commissioner of Education and a hearing for authorization before the New Hampshire State Board of Education. Since June of 2012 the Friends of the Seacoast High School for the Arts has been waiting for a hearing to present the charter.

Without any notification or warning, the State BOE decided at their September 19, 2012 meeting to deny the approval of any new charter school. One of the objectives of the Charter School Program in New Hampshire is to “Increase the number of high quality charter schools in New Hampshire, particularly those serving educationally disadvantaged students most at risk in rural and urban settings.”

Seacoast High School for the Arts will reach out to the diverse population of students in Greater Seacoast area to ensure ALL have the opportunity for educational success. According to US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, as reported by The Center for Arts Education, “The arts can help students become tenacious, team- oriented problem-solvers who are confident and able to think creatively. These qualities can be especially important in improving learning among students from economically disadvantaged circumstances.”

Further, according to the researchers involved with Champions of Change published by The Arts Education Partnership, students can attain a high level of achievement through their engagement with the arts. Research-based approaches to arts-integration reach students who are not otherwise being reached, connect students to themselves and to each other, transform the environment for learning, provide new challenges for those students already considered successful, and connect learning experiences to the real world and real work.

The Friends of the Seacoast High School for the Arts Board has received interest from over 200 families in the Greater Seacoast Area. Parents want an arts-integrated curriculum for their children. Students are excited to be part of a community that values music, drama, dance, visual arts and film and integrates the Arts with general curriculum, every day in meaningful ways.

We hereby ask that the New Hampshire State Legislature increase the overall budget to support the increasing number of students demanding quality education through Public Charter Schools.

We hereby request that the New Hampshire State Board of Education reverse its moratorium on Public Charter Schools.