Recently, someone forwarded me a letter to the editor, submitted by one of my ‘representatives‘ (Linda Tanner) in Concord, regarding school choice. She asked for my thoughts on it, which you can find (point by point) below.
Articles tagged as
Education
#Woke Teachers: “Screw you, Parents” We Have Your Children
The Teachers Truth shows its ugly face again (yeah, same old, same old). Wake County, North Carolina got “WOKE!” Ingested some of that toxic Critical Race Theory.
Blogline Of The Day – Have Teachers Exposed Themselves For What They Don’t Do?
Joanne Jacobs, in ‘We don’t need no education, says,’ “If this nation is going to spend billions of dollars on public schooling, surely we want more than day-care centers with breakfast, lunch, snacks, and copies of Anti-Racist Baby.”
Josiah Bartlett: Why Are We Still Debating School Openings?
President Biden on March 2 announced a goal of administering at least one vaccine to every educator in the United States by the end of the month. The head of the American Federation of Teachers praised the announcement, saying, “vaccinations are a key ingredient to reopening schools safely.”
Education Bills: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
A number of education bills are being heard in committee this week. Of the four I’ll discuss below (CACR3, HB282, HB455, and HB388), two are good bills, one is a bad bill, and one is an ugly bill.
So Kids, What Did We Learn From The NH House Session (02/25/21)?
We learned that sometimes it is wise to start out the day with a fresh start and a clearing of the air. That is what Speaker Packard did with a short and heartfelt “personal privilege” speech beginning Day 2 at the Bedford Sportsplex. He spoke about the unfortunate events which happened at the end of yesterday’s session when frustration, anger, and fatigue hit the chamber.
Hillsdale College Affiliated Charter School to Open in New Hampshire
Monadnock Classical Academy has been accepted by the Barney Charter School Initiative of Hillsdale College as an affiliated charter school, according to Barry Tanner, Chairman of the Monadnock Freedom to Learn Coalition, Inc. The new public charter school is expected to open in the fall of 2022 at a site in the Monadnock region yet to be finalized.
How NOT to Think About School Funding (Part 2)
Previously, I discussed the idea, popular in some quarters, that if a parent withdraws his child from a public school in order to send him to a private school, the parent ought to reimburse the district for lost adequacy funds. Today I’d like to discuss a complementary idea, also popular in some quarters, that if … Read more
HB544 Is A Good Idea But…
I like the idea of “HB544 – relative to the propagation of divisive concepts” but feel the concept cries out for legal attention. This bill is not well-drafted, is overly wordy, has conflicting provisions, even asserts authority over the “unconscious.” The terms “diversity” and “inclusion” are used but not defined. There are no legislative findings except one.
An Entire School Board Resigns After Getting Caught Disparaging Parents in an Online Meeting
It is a best practice to assume that boards and committees in your municipality, be it a plucky berg or a sprawling metropolis, secretly (or not so secretly) hold disdain for the people they claim to serve. The more liberal the area, the worse that attitude will be. They are not your friends, and you are a barrier to their agenda. Take this School board.
New Hampshire’s Education Choice Moment
“I think that eventually, school choice is going to be part of education.” Those were the words of Democratic state Rep. Barbara Shaw of Manchester, as she voted in the House Education Committee on Thursday to retain House Speaker Sherm Packard’s Education Freedom Accounts bill.
Why Can’t Johnny Get a Job?
The story from the employers or human resource officers over the past 10 years hasn’t changed. For every ten applicants for an entry-level job, over half cannot pass a simple literacy test.
Granite Crock: ‘Don’t confuse us with the facts!’
Long ago, a Congressman from my home state gained notoriety when he said, while defending Richard Nixon, ‘Don’t confuse me with the facts.’ I was reminded of this upon reading an article that Steve forwarded to me from the Granite Crock site, which was written to ‘debunk’ something I’d written.
School Funding: Lower Taxes, Same Student Achievement
If you had the Triangle of Light (from Tomb Raider), you could just go back in time to 1998, the year of the Claremont II decision. You don’t have that, but you have something almost as good — a filing cabinet.
‘Your money should follow my child’
A chant that has been gaining popularity is that where education is concerned, ‘the money should follow the child’. A second, related chant is that ‘parents should be able to decide how to spend their education dollars’.
Education Savings Accounts and a “Broad-Based” Tax
So I have read that Education Savings Accounts are going to lead to a “broad-based” tax because the cost may rise to $103 million. Sounds like a lot of money … until you look at the State budget. So here’s a schematic of the current budget: As a percentage of New Hampshire’s $6.7 billion budget … Read more
School funding: Viewing problems as opportunities
Remember that moment when Mulan figures out how to climb the pole? To do it, she has to change the way she views the two weights. What seems at first to be a problem (‘How do I carry these weights with me as I climb?’) turns out to be an opportunity (‘I can use these … Read more
NH School Administrators Assoc. Advocating ILLITERACY in Civics?
Yesterday, Representative Mike Moffett introduced HB 320 to the House Education Committee. AN ACT requiring a civics competency assessment as a high school graduation requirement. This legislation would require all students graduating from a NH High School to pass the U.S. Citizenship test.
School funding: If you teach a man to read, he can teach himself to fish.
If you give a man a fish, he has to come back when he needs another fish. If you teach a man to fish, he has to come back when he needs to learn something else. Why not teach the man how to learn?
Choice Within Public Schools, An Alternative to Education Savings Accounts
Every school is accountable to those who fund it. Private schools are accountable to the parents who fund them. If they start taking public funding, via Education Savings Accounts, then they must be accountable to the State.