A recent article was headlined “The true cause of failed NH education” and tried to pin one person with education failures. Freshman State Representative Mike Belcher tries to blame NH House Education Committee Chairman Rick Ladd. The article is filled with misinformation and half-truths.
Let me start by stating that I have served with Rick Ladd on the Education Committee for over a decade. For the past three years, I have been his Vice Chairman. Let me tell you a little about the background of Rick Ladd. He is a decorated Vietnam War veteran. He has been active on multiple boards in his town in addition to serving in the NH House. Regarding his legislative record, he has co-sponsored Education Freedom Account bills and led the committee to get passage.
He has championed legislation to end discrimination against religious schools and advocated for career and technical education programs. He was instrumental in the development of the educator code of conduct. He sponsored legislation to get concentration on the basic core subjects. He has co-sponsored bills to phase out the Interest and Dividends tax, to require parental consent for non-academic student surveys, to allow greater innovation in public schools, to combat bullying, and to prohibit requiring districts to implement the Common Core standards. I could go on and on.
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Getting back to the article, Representative Belcher starts by claiming, “I have not been allowed success in accomplishing a single reform to New Hampshire schools.” He implies that Chairman Ladd is the reason. He states specifically that Chairman Ladd is responsible for the “awful” state of New Hampshire schools. He claims that House Democrats cannot win because they do not have the numbers yet they “keep winning.” This is totally false. The Republicans in the House have a majority of 2 or 3. We have an evenly divided committee, and the votes on the House floor are dependent on who shows up that day. It does not help that some Republicans would fight fellow Republicans rather than work to pass reasonable legislation and defend the great legislation we have passed over the past few years. Representative Belcher stated that he “came to win at any cost,” but his actions instead show that he came to fight at any cost. Do we want legislators whose aim is to win or fight at any cost? At any cost? Are we not elected to work for our constituents and the people of NH?
The most egregious claim is that Chairman Ladd is the reason for everything from school violence to academic proficiency decreases to increases in costs per pupil. Falsehoods abound in his article. Let me mention just a few statements that are absolutely untrue: Ladd voted to allow men to use girl’s bathrooms, he demanded that Education Freedom Accounts not be expanded, pushed forward civics education knowing it would be provided by the far left and was instrumental on killing a bill on campus freedom of speech. He also accuses Chairman Ladd of running the committee by not allowing opposing views from the “right.” The translation is that Chairman Ladd has had to try and keep Representative Belcher from wandering off into his conspiracy theories while questioning people testifying.
If there is anyone who should be removed from the House Education Committee, it is Representative Mike Belcher.
