WHY IT’S BLUE HAMPSHIRE

Check out the op-ed in today’s Foster’s by Republican State Rep Dave Hess on education funding.  Hess is part of the "leadership" of House Republicans, so you know his views reflect the views of the House Republican leadership.  The gist of the op-ed is that we, the Republicans, know how to spend your money more wisely than Governor Lynch.  Here’s an excerpt.

"There is neither rhyme nor reason to [Lynch's] formula. In fact, the governor’s plan spends the exact same amount, dollar for dollar, as the state would have spent under current law. The governor’s current plan, which the Democratically controlled House of Representatives passed unchanged, just shuffles the money around, not unlike a shell game. The biggest difference is that 86 towns lose over $16 million under the governor’s plan — towns that can ill afford to lose money, including four of the five original Claremont lawsuit towns."

There isn’t a dime’s worth of difference between Hess’ plan and Lynch’s.  Both agree that the quality of public education depends on how much we spend.  Both agree that we need to spend more.  And both agree that the "wise men" in Concord should decide how the money gets spent.  The only difference is they disagree over how best to spend our money.

Thus, the voters in this State just get to choose between two shades of blue.  A real Republican approach to public education would recognize that just increasing spending on public schools is not going to improve pubic education; competition is needed to do that.  It would be based on the premise that parents are much better decision-makers than the "wise men" in Concord.  To cut to the chase, the real Republican approach is school choice.

But how bad are things here?  Not only are the Republicans not advocating school choice.  They’re not even for same but less.  They’re just for the same.