There is a particular kind of political jiu-jitsu that shows up every session in Concord: take a word conservatives like, twist it 15 degrees, and use it to do something conservatives should hate.

HB1512 is that move.

The bill would let a town hold a referendum to decide whether families in that town may access Education Freedom Accounts (EFAs). Vote “no,” and even otherwise-eligible families get blocked. Not by their own choices, not by program rules, not by funding caps, but by the local majority.

This is being sold as “local control.” It is not. It is a municipal veto over parental rights.

“Local control” is not the same thing as “local veto”

Genuine local control means towns manage what towns are responsible for: budgets, policies, operations, and how they run their public schools.

HB1512 goes past that line. It says your neighbors can vote on your kid’s education options.

That is not local control. That is local coercion.

A conservative movement that believes parents are the primary decision-makers for their children should be allergic to this concept on contact.

Rights by zip code is not liberty, it’s arbitrary rule

A statewide program with statewide eligibility becomes a patchwork of political fiefdoms:

• Same income, same student, same eligibility.
• Different town line.
• Different rights.

That is not “federalism.” It is not “subsidiarity.” It is not “community values.”

It is a government-granted permission slip, revocable at the ballot box, based on where you live.

Liberty does not mean “the majority gets to vote on your family’s choices.”

The bill weaponizes school choice into a permanent town-level culture war

If you want to ensure that every town meeting turns into a screaming match, this is a fantastic way to do it.

Instead of families quietly making decisions and scholarship organizations administering the program, HB1512 drags EFA students into annual political combat. It turns ordinary parents into campaign targets and their kids into talking points.

Conservatives should be reducing the number of things subject to political warfare, not creating a new town-level battlefield.

It does not solve the “taxpayer concern”; it pretends to address

You will hear: “Taxpayers should decide!”

But HB1512 does not cut your school tax bill. It does not change your town’s education spending. It does not create transparency. It does not create efficiency.

What it does is block families from accessing an option that often costs less than the public system per pupil.

So if your goal is fiscal restraint, the bill is confused.
If your goal is to make school choice harder, the bill is perfectly designed for that.

It’s anti-parent, wrapped in the costume of civic virtue

Here is the tell: the bill is not letting parents opt out. Parents already opt out by choosing a different option for their child.

The bill lets other voters opt parents out.

That is the inversion. That is the point.

You do not defend parental rights by deputizing the town to overrule them.

Conservatives should oppose HB1512 for one simple reason

Because it treats educational choice as a privilege granted by local politics rather than a right exercised by families.

If you believe parents, not government, are responsible for raising children, then you do not let the town vote on whether a family is allowed to choose a different educational path.

HB1512 should be voted Inexpedient to Legislate.

Not because local control is bad, but because this bill is not local control at all. It is a neighborhood-level veto on freedom, with “community” scrawled on the label in marker.

And we are supposed to applaud because the boot is locally sourced.

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