News – Politics – Opinion – Podcasts
In the wake of Act 73/H.955 education “reform” and the emphasis on consolidation, there has been considerable worry in rural Vermont about what this means for their small, local schools. For many, it will mean closure. A recent op-ed by Nina Antin notes, “When Sen. Ruth Hardy, D-Addison, presented H.955 on the Vermont Senate floor, … Read more
The new highly anticipated education reform bill H. 955 is now at the governor’s desk to be signed or vetoed. On Friday the bill passed out of the House chamber via a 125-10 affirmative vote. Highlights include a foundation funding formula that targets reducing the cost per student by about half the current price. One … Read more
The EdOpt Fair in Claremont is taking place Wednesday June 3! Come join us and have one-on-one conversations with these providers: Don’t forget to stop by the EdOpt table if you want some guidance. Looking forward to seeing you there! This will be our last fair until the end of July. Please check out our … Read more
[Originally published in April 2025. It seems like a good time to remind people of this.] 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 … Read more
I just read, I think, the most important op-ed to appear anywhere in Vermont this year. It is by Shawn Tester, CEO of Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital, and it is about school choice. Why is a healthcare guy writing about the importance of school choice? Because access to school choice and a variety of independent … Read more
The EdOpt Fair in Goffstown is taking place Wednesday, May 13! Katy Ann Myers from the Goffstown Homeschool Community and I worked closely to make this happen. What a ball of positive energy she is! Come join us and meet this wide range of providers: Don’t forget to stop by the EdOpt table if you … Read more
New Hampshire public school enrollment continues to decline at a faster rate than teacher employment, a Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy analysis of state data shows. Over the last 15 years, public schools in New Hampshire lost students at nearly three times the rate at which they lost teachers. From the 2011-2012 school year … Read more
For the past two years, Vermont politicians have been telling Vermont property taxpayers that they heard us after 2024 and are working to reform our education system to provide property tax relief. It’s not happening. The debate today as we close out the 2026 legislative session is whether to pay for 4%-plus increase in spending … Read more
Marco Rubio testified before Congress recently, where he dropped this little gem in a reply to Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York: We have to have a State Department that can deliver on a foreign policy that is rooted in the national interest of the United States. To defend the national interest of the United … Read more
Scriptures tell us: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The knowledge of the holy one is understanding.” The Lord gave us free will. To gain understanding, He gave us the Ten Commandments, a divine blueprint we could freely choose to follow so that our nature would reflect His. Rebellion against God … Read more
This week, on Right Side Up, Alison and I discuss more of the active legislation in Montpelier incluindg more on land use, education reform, and H.933 – a whole lot of taxes. Watch on the ‘Grok Rumble Channel if the embedded video does not load. Authors’ and Speakers’ opinions are their own and may not … Read more
Today, on the Morning update, the topic is ED. Educational Dysfunction. And how, no matter how much money we throw at it, it can’t seem to get it (academic achievement). Watch on the ‘Grok Rumble Channel if the embedded video does not load. Ep. 136 Links: Authors’ and Speakers’ opinions are their own and may … Read more
One Big Beautiful Bill gives scholarship donors $1700 federal tax credit – but Dem majority doesn’t want it Vermonters will not be allowed to take a federal tax credit for contributing to a private/independent school scholarship program, if a House Ways & Means Committee miscellaneous tax bill introduced yesterday becomes law. H.933, titled “miscellaneous administrative … Read more
I won’t pay the Union Leader, our state’s largest circulation newspaper, for the privilege of access to the declining value of what they call news, but I get their emails, and this headline caught my eye. “Manchester schools ask business leaders to push for adequate funding.” Even if you’re not a victim of the ed … Read more
“Whatever the State identifies as comprising constitutional adequacy it must pay for.” — N.H. Supreme Court, Londonderry School District SAU #12 v. State of New Hampshire, 2006 Since the state lost its first Claremont education funding case in 1993, legislators and governors (including Democratic Gov. John Lynch in 2011-2012) tried to undo the decision with … Read more
This week on Right Side Up, Alison and I discuss Act 73 issues, Medicaid data requests from the Feds, and some miscellaneous bills in the legislature. You Can Watch on the ‘Grok Rumble Channel if the embedded video does not load. Authors’ and Speakers’ opinions are their own and may not represent those of Grok … Read more
A Patch story caught my eye, and a light bulb went off. All those gazillions of dollars we’ve wasted on public education when we could have been cherishing seminaries, literature, or science. If you recall, the justification for state-managed gambling was that we’d be investing in public schools. Without looking at how much more expensive … Read more
This week, on Right Side Up, Alison and I discuss land use policy, energy policy, and Act 73 versus tuitioning statewide. Authors’ and Speakers’ opinions are their own and may not represent those of Grok Media, LLC, GraniteGrok.com, its sponsors, readers, authors, or advertisers. Disagree, agree, Got Something to Say, We Want to Hear It. … Read more
Welcome back for a new episode of GrokTALK!. This week, SCOTUS ruled on Trump’s tariffs, and it’s not the bad news you think. We revisit Sen. Keith Murphy’s floor speech on the state and ed funding ‘cuz you need to see it or see it again. And then a few 30,000-foot thoughts about whiteness, the … Read more
A provision of the federal law H.1, aka the One Big Beautiful Bill, allows taxpayers to receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit on your federal income tax of up to $1700 for contributing to a state-based 501c3 organization classified as a Scholarship Granting Organization (SGO). The SGO then uses that money to, as its name suggests, … Read more