Partnering for Public Education

Strong community partnerships build the best public schools! A system that is democratically run, publicly funded and serves all children.

Public Education is a Keystone for Community

Partnering for Public Education, is a community group whose mission is to support a thriving system of public education. Our public school system faces unprecedented challenges. Extensive efforts to draw funds away from public schools through vouchers is exacerbating financial issues in a state system that underfunds its public schools. The current pol

itical climate undermines teaching as a profession. Goals
• Raise public awareness of state and local educational issues and events
• Actively demonstrate local support of our public schools
• Support tangible measures to retain and attract quality educators
• Advocate for ample and equitable funding for public education, utilizing all resources
• Encourage collaboration between all community stakeholders
• Strengthen and expand partnerships between the public school system and community
• Put all children and their well-being at the center of education

Accomplishments
• Ongoing email, letter writing, and community communications regarding NH Legislative issues, local matters impacting public education, and pro public education events
• Hosting school board candidate forums in collaboration with the Keene School District to inform the community regarding candidate positions on educational topics.
• Facilitating collaboration between stakeholders

Chair:
Joan Murphy has been an elementary school counselor for 28 years and has a Masters degree in Counseling Psychology. She served students and families in SAU 29 and Amherst, Massachusetts and has been a longstanding advocate for public education. She also was employed by Social Thinking, Boston as a social coach working with children and families. She and her husband Erik have two adult children who were educated by the Keene public schools. Members:
Nick Germana has been a professor of history at Keene State College since 2006. He specializes in German intellectual history and has taught classes on modern Germany and modern European history more broadly. He is currently serving his first term as a New Hampshire State Representative, representing Keene's Ward 1. Ellen Jahos has been an elementary school general music teacher in the public school system for over 30 years. She is currently an adjunct professor of music education at Keene State College and a teaching partner with the Colonial Theater’s Operatunity program. Her two adult children are Keene High School graduates. Jenna Spear is passionate advocate for public education, and has been involved in the Keene schools for over 20 years as a parent, staff member, and proud spouse of a Keene school teacher. Jenna is an entomologist and educator, and has taught at Keene State College and Antioch University, and currently works as a naturalist at the Harris Center for Conservation Education. Sandy Swinburne is a 45-year resident of Cheshire County who recently moved to Keene from Marlborough. She is a retired clinical and school psychologist who has worked in all of the SAU 29 schools. In retirement, she served one term as a Representative in the State House on the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, and is active with the county's Restorative Justice team. She and her husband Bill have two adult daughters who graduated from Keene High. Michelle DellaVita has a background in risk management, finance, human resources, and leadership development. She is a nationally and internationally credentialed Leadership Coach, is passionate about community engagement, participating in Monadnock United Way and Monadnock Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (MDEIB) Coalition. She is currently the Director of Development & Community Engagement for the Greater Monadnock Collaborative - regional chamber of commerce. She has lived in the community for over 35 years and spent 28 years as an active parent in the Keene School District. For more information about Partnering for Public Education or if you are interested in joining our group contact: [email protected]

04/09/2026

From NH School Funding Fairness Project

Addressing rising costs is what lawmakers should be focusing on in Concord.

Instead, on April 15th, lawmakers are playing games with a last minute, high-profile hearing in Representatives Hall on CACR 12 a proposal to amend the constitution to restrict the ability of future legislators to change how we raise revenues.

This is not a serious effort to address affordability. It is a political stunt that distracts from the real work of building solutions and keeps us stuck in the same cycle.
SIGN IN TO OPPOSE CACR 12 all right great)

→ Select April 15th �→ House Ways and Means Committee �→ CACR 12 �→ Select “Oppose” �→ check “Testimony is for Non-Germane Amendment”

gc.nh.gov

03/28/2026

NH GOP lawmakers send Ayotte a bill that would limit state’s public education obligations The New Hampshire Supreme Court told lawmakers in July that they were underfunding public education. Republican lawmakers have responded with a bill that would divide school costs between state and local taxpayers.

03/23/2026

What's an unfunded mandate? Local property taxes fund the vast majority of school budgets — more than 70 percent, according to Reaching Higher NH, a nonprofit focused on public education.

03/20/2026

Last Friday, the Senate Education Finance Committee held a public hearing on SB 659 and HB 1815, two identical bills that would repeal and rewrite parts of New Hampshire’s education adequacy law, redefining public education as a system of “shared responsibility” between the state and local governments without defining what the state’s share would be.

During the hearing, NHSFFP Executive Director Zack Sheehan raised concerns about what the legislation is attempting to do.

“It appears to be the state does not like having in law the responsibility to provide funding,” Sheehan said.

🔗 Read the full article:
https://www.unionleader.com/news/politics/state/opponents-dominate-hearings-on-bills-to-rebuff-supreme-court-on-school-aid/article_8a2e12e3-70d3-4cb1-b9ae-840d1d44c782.html

Despite hours of in-person testimony from experts in the field, parents, educators, school board members, administrators, advocates, and taxpayers overwhelmingly opposing these bills, the committee voted 3–2 to advance both bills only minutes after the hearing concluded.

These bills are moving quickly through the Legislature and directly challenge recent court rulings that the state is not meeting its constitutional responsibility to fund an adequate education. (It is no coincidence these bills are moving at the same time as the State asked the Supreme Court to reverse both Claremont decisions.)

What these bills do not do: lower property taxes, reduce reliance on property taxes, or improve public education funding for New Hampshire’s students.

Instead, the Legislature is picking a fight with the courts that have, for more than 30 years, repeatedly found that the state is not meeting its constitutional responsibility to fund our public schools. Who loses? Our kids.

03/18/2026

Thank you to everyone who voted for the Keene School District budget, Article 2 (limited Open Enrollment), and our strong school board candidates. Your vote made a difference. Keene can now move forward in supporting our public schools.

03/11/2026

Voters approve $82.4M Keene School District Budget Voters approved an $82.4 million budget for the Keene School District on Tuesday, elected a trio of candidates to three-year terms on the Keene Board of Education and passed a warrant article for open enrollment.

03/08/2026

Annual Keene School District ballot voting:
March 10 from 7:30 am – 7 pm. Wards 1,2,3,4 and 5 vote at the Keene Recreation Center, 312 Washington Street.

There are three board seats open for full three-year terms and one board seat for a two-year term. There are also openings for the Keene School District Clerk and Keene School District Moderator, both for 3-year terms.

Please contact Shayna Pelkey with any questions: [email protected] or 603-357-9002 x223.

03/07/2026

Open enrollment an open question for school districts statewide
https://www.keenesentinel.com/news/local/education/open-enrollment-open-question-school-districts/article_3716baab-4640-4c19-8be8-9076a1414e29.html