GrokInterview: Frank Edelblut, NH Commissioner of Education – Part 1

This afternoon I sat down with Frank Edelblut, the current NH Commissioner of Education, for an hour long interview.  Having video’d him several times in the past along with his announcement of the NH Dept of Ed’s Learning Everywhere, I thought it was time to sit down and have a conversation about the state of … Read more

Rat Like Cunning Beats High IQ Every Time

Polarization Our country has become pretty polarized. Some see the split between the folks who are in the entertainment sphere, the journalism sphere; the sort of “high IQ” is sphere, and the people who are actually working the jobs that are actually getting things done across the country, the deplorables. The deplorables voice seems to … Read more

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Those Looking to Repeal New Hampshire’s Education Tax Credit Are Ill Informed

Yesterday, the House Ways and Means Committee held a public hearing on HB 632, a bill that would repeal the Education Tax Credit scholarship program. Over 400 low-income children utilized the program this school year. The committee room was at maximum capacity with people standing along the walls and in the hallway. It was wonderful to … Read more

Stop the insanity

If there’s anything that we should have learned over the last half century, it’s that spending more money on schools does nothing to improve student achievement, and that there is no correlation between the amount spent and the results obtained.

And if there’s anything that we should have learned during the two decades since the Claremont decision, it’s that even making every district into a ‘rich district’ does nothing to improve student performance.

These results shouldn’t come as a complete surprise.  We’ve been focusing all our attention on money, and very little on what we’re doing with the money.  It’s almost as if we think that something will work better if we pay more for it, or if we take the money out of a different pocket.

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NH GOP Convention – GrokInterviews: Michelle Levell

At the 2019 Annual NH GOP Convention, I caught up with educational activist, current Chair of the Womens’ Defense League of NH, and NH GOP Committee Member (and Grokster!) Michelle Levell. The single question, as I promised to be short, was “what do you expect to see as the end results?” Oh, as you can … Read more

Immigration Reform… For America Not Of America

Instead of focusing on amnesty, Congress should focus on immigration reforms that would benefit America. There is nothing wrong with having the American Congress take action to benefit America. The needed immigration reforms should include ending chain migration, adopting an skills, education, and investment capital based system and getting rid of the diversity quotas. Chain … Read more

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How Parents Can End Socialism in America’s Schools: School Choice

by Lennie Jarratt and Chris Talgo January 20 marked the beginning of National School Choice Week. This year, more than 40,000 events were held to highlight the benefits of school choice—an important effort considering the abysmal track record of the nation’s public schools and the fact that government schools have a near-monopoly on education. In … Read more

School Bus Charter Schools

Attack on Chartered Public Schools

Educational options are under attack on multiple fronts. Not only are some legislators seeking to completely repeal the Education Tax Credit Scholarship program that supports low-income students, they are trying to make it nearly impossible for chartered public schools to operate. One of these attacks is HB 711, a bill that would gut funding for chartered public schools. … Read more

Educaid

Over time we’ve developed a method for dealing with situations where (1) we don’t want poor people to be denied access to something essential, (2) we don’t want tax money to be wasted on substandard products or services, and (3) we don’t want poorer people to subsidize richer people.

That method works like this.  Poor people demonstrate that they can’t afford to pay for X.  We let them choose a private provider of X, who meets basic standards, and we give them money that can be spent only on X.

If X is medical care, we call that Medicaid. If it’s heating oil, we call it LIHEAP (the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program).  If it’s food, we call it SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or Food Stamps, or EBT cards).  If it’s housing, we call it Section 8 (the Housing Choice Voucher Program).  And so on.

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Scholarship Frees Potential

Free the child’s potential, and you will transform him into the world.  ~ Maria Montessori   The Education Tax Credit scholarship program puts educational opportunities within reach for low-income students across the Granite State. Over 400 students are utilizing the scholarship for the 2019-2020 school year. There are a few bills filed that aim to … Read more

Save our scholarships

Save Our Scholarships: Hearing on Repeal Bill

WHAT: Public hearing on House Bill 632, the first one that intends to repeal the Education Tax Credit scholarship program WHERE: Legislative Office Building, room 202, located at 33 N State Street, Concord. WHEN: Tuesday, February 5th, starting at 11:00am The Education Tax Credit (ETC) scholarship program is the only one in the state that … Read more

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Defend Educational Opportunities for Low-Income Children

The tax-credit scholarship is facing multiple attacks in the legislature this year. The first one is HB 632 and is being fast-tracked to the House Ways and Means Committee, entirely skipping the Education Committee as is the usual protocol to first go to the policy committee. Although the public hearing is not scheduled yet, we expect it … Read more

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