Ray Buckley, Chairman of the New Hampshire Democrat Party is quoted as having actually said this. (DiStaso – Granite Status)
“The people of New Hampshire are more concerned with Bill O’Brien’s behavior acting as the House speaker, his state budget that has New Hampshire in the red, and his policies that have caused a loss of jobs and the cost of education skyrocket.
There is not one thing in this statement that is true. Not one.
Coming from the guy whose own party has admitted to leaving an $800,000,000.00 dollar deficit, which O’Brien managed to get rid of without raising any taxes, while writing a responsible, balanced budget (during a recession), the phrase “state budget that has New Hampshire in the red..,” must refer to red as in Republican, as in TEA Party, as in the careful use of other peoples money to run state government, something New Hampshire Democrats are incapable of. So having no legs to stand on when it comes to budgets and deficits, someone as bright as Ray would never invite such comparisons of contradiction unless he also intended to lie about those as well. Which, actually, he has.
Next. This might not matter to Ray but most people in New Hampshire have no idea what happens in the state House, but you’d have to get outside the Concord bubble to know that. I talk to regular “working people” all the time. They know New Hampshire’s unemployment is pretty low. They know the cost of their car registrations got lower. Some of them know some taxes got cut or eliminated. Some know the budget was better and overall things are OK for most of them. They know New Hampshire is doing better than a lot of other states despite the crazy spending in DC. But they don’t know who Bill O’Brien is and bless their innocent little hearts, they have no clue who you are either, Ray. So when Ray says ‘the people of New Hampshire’ what he actually means is the staffers in the Democrat party office and whomever it is he takes ‘batting practice’ with.
Finally, if we are talking about education jobs and costs, the Democrat unions have been driving the cost of education up for decades with the help of people like Ray Buckley. It has gotten so bad that most local education budgets can’t be cut because the majority of costs are wages and benefits and if you even look at them the left snaps like a twig and calls down an air-strike from National Union Headquarters. So when the State Chairman of the New Hampshire Democrat Party complains about education costs rising you might just want to smile and shake your head because even the people who have no idea who Ray Buckley is know that democrats and teachers unions are the force behind the increasing cost of public education and have been for decades.
But that hypocrisy alone in not the worst part of this ridiculous statement. Despite driving up the cost of education as a matter of Democrat policy, the results of that…um….investment….are tragically undereducated children and consistently lousy math and reading scores. But when Republicans like Bill O’Brien provide a free market solution that gives kids real choices without using taxpayer dollars, Ray sits down for story time.
In Ray’s left-wing land of make-believe Republicans want to give rich kids another hand out , when in fact it is the poorer kids who will benefit the most….at the hands of those more well off. In Ray’s Neverland a public school district that already demands as much as $10-15,000.00 per student from local taxpayers (It’s 14,600.00 ish in my town), for a child who is no longer there to teach… will somehow make the cost of education go up, when the credit will never be higher than $2500.00 per student. Most local School budgets result in a cost per pupil (Budget divided by enrollment) four to five times the maximum amount of each credit. So what happens to those extra thousands of tax dollars in the school budget for the student that is no longer there? Will the district give that money back to the taxpayers or will the they absorb them quietly under one of the massive, bureaucratic fat-rolls, while greedy School Boards, administrators, and unions look at the taxpayers and go “what other money?”
Even using just the reported average cost per student state wide (about $4200.00 per student), when you subtract the maximum scholarship value (and the maximum will be the exception rather than the rule), with estimated administrative costs included the state of New Hampshire still saves a minimum of $1,600 dollars per scholarship student.
Doesn’t that contradict what Ray Buckley just said?
Not one to be burdened by inconvenient facts, Ray would never…ever-ever-ever (ever), consider directing taxpayers to research that shows the savings realized in other states that have done this kind of thing already (becasue it contradicts his dishonest narrative). But I will.
(page 7)
“Scholarship tax credit programs have saved money in other states. In an official report in 2010, the Florida legislature’s nonpartisan Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability estimated that Sunshine State taxpayers saved $32.6 million, which is approximately $1.44 in state education funding for every dollar lost in corporate income tax revenue due to credits for scholarship contributions.2 While Florida’s state government collected $82.2 million less in tax revenue as a result of the program, this was more than outweighed by the $118.4 million in reduced expenses. These figures were adjusted to account for children who would have attended private school anyway.
Independent studies show savings from STC programs in Arizona and Pennsylvania as well. In 2009, an economist from Baylor University released an independent study of the fiscal impact of Arizona’s STC program, finding that the state saves between $99.8 million and $241.5 million as a result.3 A 2011 study by the Commonwealth Foundation reports that Pennsylvania its STC program saves the state $512 million a year. “
Scholarship programs save taxpayers money. This suggests that the cost of education would be less. So Ray is misinformed, delusional, or purposefully misleading you. But do not expect any retractions. Ray’s only real interest in education is political. He needs public schools and union teachers to milk taxpayers so they can launder dollars into Democrat campaigns and Ray Buckley’s pay check.
As for education-jobs, Ray is wrong again, on purpose. Mr. Buckley not only needs union teachers he needs more of them. The monopoly must be protected at all cost. It must be expanded at all cost. No choice–just costs you will pay becasue Democrats say so. Why? Becasue School choice might not only produce better choices, better results, happier parents and students, and more responsive and accountable educators, it could stop job growth among the unionized teachers who help fill Democrat party pockets.
The other unpleasant truth is that Bill O’Brien and the GOP are actually creating jobs with school choice by employing more teachers outside the government education monopoly. Initially there will be more growth as non-public schools add teachers and public schools retain union teachers as long as they can, regardless of enrollment numbers. But it is entirely possible that some public school teachers could decide to escape that government monopoly and the forced union tribute system, and seek jobs in non-public schools, a lateral move job-creation wise, but one that denies Ray and the Democrats another udder to milk. School choice and private money are the fuel that runs that education evolution. If Democrats cut off the fuel supply to education choice, they can protect their political and financial monopoly over education so they need you to believe these lies. Their political careers depend on it.
So to summarize, Ray is full of crap. Nothing he said was true. He doesn’t want you to have a choice, nor the ability to decide things for yourself, because you might not chose what he needs you to choose.
He is misleading the people of New Hampshire in pursuit of political power so that his party can then write laws to legally deny them more of their property for the Democrat parties benefit. That’s what they did from 2007 to 2010, and they are promising more spending if you vote for them in 2012. More Democrats means more taxes from your pocket, regardless of the state of the economy or your ability to afford them. Democrats do not want more choices, nor more education opportunities, they want more union teachers who will then give Democrats more money.
What Ray Buckley wants for New Hampshire is more power for his tax and spend Party at your expense. Until he just admits that, ignore everything he says except, as done here, to demonstrate the motivation for fraud.
