So I put up this facetious post pointing out the hypocrisy of the self-proclaimed “fiscal conservatives” in the NHGOP who are railing (pun intended) about commuter rail to Boston … while ignoring all the waste, fraud and corruption in funding public education and the blank check to the Ukraine … Damn Right We Should Build A Choo Choo To Beantown. The commentators, however, missed the point and let me know yet again that if we don’t stop Putin now the Russian Navy will be shelling Hampton Beach by June and that it’s just not free market to subsidize commuter rail (but apparently it is free market to subsidize “workforce housing”) … YAWN. Nevertheless, I intend to follow up on that post by taking the proverbial “deeper dive” into education funding to underscore the hypocrisy of the NHGOP’s faux fiscal conservatives.
Remember Chucky Morse’s failed U.S. Senate campaign … more specifically the slogan … “603-way not DC-way”? Well … when it comes to funding public education, there really is no difference between the “603-way” and how DC funds the war in Ukraine. We have virtually no idea how the money is being spent.
Let me say that a different way … all that we really know about public education spending in New Hampshire is that we don’t know. Apparently, average per pupil spending is $19,400.00. And the average classroom size is seventeen. So that’s nearly $330,000 per classroom.
So let’s assume the total compensation the teacher of that classroom receives is $100,000, which I am certain is on the high side. That leaves $230,000 per classroom unaccounted for. WHERE THE HELL IS ALL THAT MONEY GOING?
Where is the pie chart on the Department of Education website showing me a meaningful breakdown of spending on public education? I couldn’t find it. CALLING MR. EDELBLUT … CALLING MR. EDELBLUT.
Can any of our “fiscally conservative” NHGOP State Reps and State Senators give me that breakdown? I doubt it. They are far too busy cutting business taxes and subsidizing workforce housing … which clearly is far more important to them than knowing how much of every education dollar is spent on Diversity-Inclusion-Equity.
I am sure that these “fiscal conservatives” would tell me that I can do a Right-to-Know if I want to know. NO … NO … NO … oversight and stewardship of how taxes are spent is YOUR JOB … DO YOUR DAMN JOBS.
All that we can say is that we really have no idea how approximately two-thirds of every dollar spent on public education is actually spent.
I know … I know … I know … what I really should be worried about is that Russian fleet steaming full speed toward Hampton Beach.