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When Governor Scott unveiled his education reform plan, I warned readers to be prepared to “kiss your sister.” There’s a lot to not like in what he came up with, but at least it reduced spending by $180 million in order to cut taxes. The plan the Democrats are putting forward, however, is more like … Read more
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
Attempt to regulate homeschooling faces furious opposition. Once considered the exception rather than the rule, more parents are choosing a homeschooling education over public schools as the best path for their children. A recent Illinois initiative, however, would compel registration of parents who teach their children outside the government’s oversight, revealing the popularity of what … Read more
Every summer, kids are out of school for about 80 days, almost 3 months. So, what do parents do with their kids during that time? It’s not like their jobs end. It’s not like they can take 3 months off of work to look after their kids. And yet, the kids get taken care of. … Read more
The premise of Education Freedom Accounts (EFAs) is that some kids are trapped in schools that aren’t serving them, so they should be able to escape. But the idea can’t be to facilitate the breakout by creating a dependency that lasts for years afterward. The idea can’t be to get them to kick heroin by … Read more
Just a reminder here that former National Federation of Teachers President Albert Shanker once admitted, “When schoolchildren start paying dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of schoolchildren.” True that! And watching the debate in the legislature over how to reign in public education costs and improve student outcomes, I think that sentiment resides … Read more
With former NASA planetary scientist and AI researcher, Ian Underwood Paul Ingbretson continues the critical Claremont Decision interviews with a New Hampshire based mathematician and former NASA scientist who offers much needed clarifying common sense about the implications of the Supreme Court’s now-infamous Claremont rulings. Missed the previous installments? Disclosure: Ian is a longtime contributor … 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
One of the latest attacks against President Trump is his Executive Order to close the Department of Education. He wants to return educational standards to parents and each state. Daily, we hear how poorly students are doing, even though the United States spends more per student than any other nation. Two recent stories concern students … Read more
Keith and Teserse talk with education and parental advocate Ann Marie Banfield in Hour One on what dismantling the Federal Dept. of Education could mean for New Hampshire. And is the backlash and destruction against Tesla owners and Elon Musk domestic Terrorism? Contributor Julian Acciard joins the show as well. Plus, the weekly rant, and … Read more
Suppose someone said: I live in this state, but that state offers more generous welfare benefits. So I should be able to live here, but collect benefits from there. Or suppose someone said: I live in this county, but that county has a better nursing home, so I’d like my elderly mother to be cared … Read more
This week, the latest on the Clean Heat Standard, Education funding…more Please like, follow, or subscribe to The ‘Grok on Rumble and YouTube and check for Replays of Granite State Live, GrokTALK! and Right Side Up, or follow these links to their podcast pages. Our Current Local Podcast Lineup
Many of you saw a petition warrant article on the agenda at your recent town meetings. The idea was to get towns to vote to send the petition to the legislature and the governor. It’s kind of a silly idea — if you’re going to tell your representative something, you should do that as an … Read more
Or, so says a 1941 book published by the U.S. Government This is a PDF version of a book published by the federal government in 1941. In the book, there is a series of questions. On Page 128, one of the questions is “Where, in the Constitution, is education mentioned? And the answer: “There is none; education is … Read more
…And NO ONE IS LOOKING INTO WHY The New England Take is kicking off a new series, “The Cost of Education.” Everyone focuses on the per-pupil cost and what the New Hampshire Statehouse is looking at, but not why rural towns pay twice as much as cities, why cities like Portsmouth are saying they are … Read more
Some of the worst fads in education have come from education reformers with no track record of success in public education. So when you hear the term “student-centered learning,” you might want to consider what this means. Student-centered learning sounds good, but what does it look like in the classroom? I’ve already reported on how … Read more
It’s been asked a lot lately with budgetary challenges running up against a lack of tax capacity, and the backdrop of DOGE findings of government waste at the federal level, “Do our elected representatives ever go back and evaluate the programs they pass to see if they are working as promised?” Not really, no. And … 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
Once again, on March 11, in Kensington and many small towns like ours in NH, just 1/3 of the voting population showed up to vote on essential items like budgets, spending, and taxes. In my last 37 years here in Kensington, citizens, young and old, rich and poor, have made unequaled Investments in education, yet … Read more
EdOpt’s first school choice expo of 2025 will take place in Weare on March 24. Explore all your education options, including private schools, micro schools, charter schools, learning centers, home education groups, and more! Whether you’re a family wanting to meet a varied set of education providers, a provider who wants a table, or a state rep or … Read more