News – Politics – Opinion – Podcasts
Andrew Cline 
K-12 public school spending rises every year, whether enrollment increases or decreases. In this century, K-12 district public school enrollment in New Hampshire has fallen by more than 50,000 students, but spending is up by more than $1 billion, adjusted for inflation. How does this happen? The short answer is that local voters prefer to … Read more
On Thursday, decades’ worth of aged, decrepit talking points died in the New Hampshire House. Opponents of parental choice in education say the purpose of creating such choice is to “defund,” “privatize,” or “destroy” public schools. Public money should stay entirely in public schools, they say. This year, House Education Policy and Administration Chairman Glenn … Read more
In many areas of New Hampshire it is literally illegal for shop owners, employees and customers to live in an apartment above or next to a business. Yet places that do allow such mixed uses are among the most vibrant and desired areas in the state, for both businesses and residents. As state and local … Read more
New Hampshire’s housing shortage, and the price spike that it created, has made housing the No. 1 problem facing the state, according to University of New Hampshire polling. Fixing the state’s housing shortage is such a priority for voters that a 2024 UNH poll found more than 1/3 of voters rating it as the top problem, … Read more
In 2025, the public appetite for cutting unnecessary government expenses, improving efficiency and reducing taxpayer liabilities is enormous. Inflation put tremendous stress on household finances as COVID-era regulatory and spending decisions tanked Americans’ trust in government management. In New Hampshire, policymakers are looking for new ways to deliver core services at lower costs. One reform … Read more
The Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, in partnership with EdChoice, has released an analysis of the fiscal effects of two Education Freedom Account expansion proposals, one presented by Gov. Kelly Ayotte in her budget and the other in House Bill 115, representing the House leadership plan. At the state level, the fiscal effects range … Read more
In a cost-cutting move, New Jersey ended its annual auto safety inspections in 2010. State officials cited a lack of evidence that inspections improved public safety. “If we’re going to invest millions of taxpayer dollars year after year in a program, then it is essential that we be able to justify the expense and effectiveness … Read more
Imagine that you’ve just graduated high school or college, you’ve landed an entry-level job, and you need a car. What’s on your car shopping list? It’s your first job, so you’re probably looking for a cheap car, and smaller cars are cheaper to buy and maintain than larger ones. So you start shopping. To your … Read more
Two years ago this week, we warned legislators that a day of reckoning was coming for Medicaid. “Any discussion of expanding Medicaid coverage or eligibility should start with the understanding that current spending levels are unsustainable, and increasing those levels just accelerates the date of reckoning,” we wrote. With Congress looking to make $2 trillion in … Read more
The American Prohibition Museum is not in Chicago but tucked into an old brick building in Savannah, Ga., just off Congress Street. A $29.91 ticket to the museum comes with a drink at the adjacent speakeasy. In most American cities, that would be a perfect finish to a trip through the Prohibition era. Not in … Read more
In her proposed budget, Gov. Kelly Ayotte opens New Hampshire’s Education Freedom Account program to all students who’ve been enrolled in a New Hampshire public school (including chartered public schools) for at least a full academic year, the Josiah Bartlett Center has confirmed. The expansion would take effect July 1, 2026. Students who currently have … Read more
New Hampshire’s housing shortage, and the price spike that it created, has made housing the No. 1 problem facing the state, according to University of New Hampshire polling. Fixing the state’s housing shortage is such a priority for voters that a 2024 UNH poll found more than 1/3 of voters rating it as the top problem, … Read more
From local elections to legislative debates to legal challenges, discussion of public education in New Hampshire has been dominated by two persistent myths. The first is that more spending is the primary means of producing better educational outcomes. The second is that our educational outcomes are stunted because funding for K-12 public schools has “been slashed,” as … Read more
The State New Hampshire and its towns and cities provide the opportunity to obtain a publicly funded education to every school-age child, regardless of income. And no one complains that this unfairly benefits higher-income households. To illustrate the point, the median household income in Hopkinton is $130,216. That’s 55% higher than in Concord ($83,701) and … Read more
Labor unions negotiate benefits on behalf of all employees of a collective bargaining unit, not just their own members, unions say. Since non-members receive the benefits, they should be compelled to pay the union for negotiating them. Because right-to-work laws forbid non-union employees from being compelled as a condition of employment to pay any portion … Read more
People have always relocated between New Hampshire and Massachusetts for a variety of reasons. However, the flow from Massachusetts into New Hampshire is larger than the outflow, and it has been increasing, according to an analysis from the Pioneer Institute in Boston. From 2010-2023, New Hampshire gained a net total of 98,879 immigrants from Massachusetts, nearly … Read more
Aside from the obvious charms of the state’s natural beauty, its variety of coastline, lakes, hills, and mountains, its plentiful ice cream shops, and its abundant maple syrup, humans have created additional benefits of living here. Below are five man-made reasons to be thankful for calling the “live free or die” state home. Capt. John … Read more
On Monday, a young woman from New Hampshire was featured prominently in a front-page Wall Street Journal story. She didn’t found a company or create a valuable new product. Quite the opposite; she spent the summer canvassing for the Democratic Socialists of America in New York City, where she hopes to get socialist Zohran Mamdani … Read more
New Hampshire is the freest state in the country and on the continent. But on some measures of economic freedom, we do poorly. Most Granite Staters would probably be surprised to learn that New Hampshire is in the top 20 most regulated states in the nation. New Hampshire’s recent regulatory growth Researchers at the Mercatus Center … Read more
Reviving American manufacturing is a hot topic in the nation and New Hampshire once again. A new Department of Business and Economic Affairs report on the state’s advanced manufacturing sector has drawn attention to that field’s recent growth here (well above the New England average) as well as its economic benefits (tens of thousands of jobs, billions … Read more