News – Politics – Opinion – Podcasts
There is great value, when considering a question, to instead consider a generalization of the question. Then, having answered the more general question, you get the answers to more specialized versions for free, and you know they’re consistent with each other. This is actually a pretty large part of what we call thinking. Here’s an … Read more
…district public schools spend $1.25 billion more on 54,000 fewer students Average per-pupil spending in New Hampshire district public schools has nearly doubled this century, as student enrollment declined sharply and reading and math assessment scores fell, a new Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy study finds. Total public school district spending in New Hampshire … Read more
Though expanding Education Freedom Accounts to all New Hampshire students is a top Republican Party priority for this legislative session, differences between three competing plans produced an impasse. For weeks, doubts grew about Republicans’ ability to expand the program even though they controlled the governor’s office and both legislative chambers. On Wednesday, the House Finance … Read more
Last week, Senate President Pro Tem, Philip Baruth (D/P-Chittenden Central) decided to pull the education reform bill, H.454, off of the calendar where it was scheduled for a floor vote. He did this not because it wasn’t going to pass, but because it was – but with both Republican and Democrat votes. That was too … Read more
Introduction In his polemical essay against school vouchers, Andru Volinsky trades on well-worn tropes: that public education is a pillar of democracy, that vouchers threaten social equity, and that the Civil Rights Movement should be invoked to shield the status quo. Yet this rhetorical sleight-of-hand obscures deeper truths. Public education in America was not built … Read more
Ian Underwood, a scientist and mathematician (not to mention a libertarian), breaks down why we should rethink how schools measure success and the impact it should have on education funding. Speakers’ opinions are their own and may not represent those of Grok Media, LLC, GraniteGrok.com, its sponsors, readers, authors, or advertisers. Follow these links for … Read more
I’m speaking primarily to Republicans because the Democrats are not going to pay attention or care, or, if they do, buck their party leadership – just a quick reminder that back in November 2024, your voters didn’t go into the polls screaming, “We have too many school districts!” They weren’t calling on you to close … Read more
June 1 of this year marks the tenth anniversary of the passing of author and homeschool pioneer Samuel L. Blumenfeld. Sam’s last book, which he co-authored with Alex Newman, was Crimes of the Educators. A week before Sam’s passing, I called Alex and asked when he planned to visit Sam. They had not met in person, but … Read more
Education is a mess, and funding it is a mess. Costs are high, learning is low, and there are many ideas about what to do that don’t even begin to address the purpose of public education or its problems. Back in January, Ian and Jody Underwood joined me to talk about all things education, and … Read more
There’s a battle going on right now in our neighboring state of Illinois concerning the Illinois Homeschool Act. This Act takes the current minimal oversight of homeschoolers in Illinois and places families at risk of violation by state-appointed truant officers right in their homes. The bill would require parents to file a homeschool declaration form as well … Read more
Funding schools that prepare citizens for success should be a no-brainer “Some critics of religious charter schools complain that taxpayer dollars shouldn’t fund religious education. But they don’t object to taxpayers being forced to fund the leftist indoctrination that permeates so many government-run schools. Such one-sided complaints show that these critics aren’t concerned for taxpayers … Read more
The movement to shift public school funding from local governments to the state is driven by a core belief that the shift will bring more funding. But that assumption is almost certainly wrong. The National Education Association’s latest annual report on public school data drew media coverage this week for its finding that New Hampshire’s … Read more
The familiar adage, “the longest journey begins with the first step,” is so true and very applicable to today’s American decline. Particular to my life, I now consider the Supreme Court’s ruling that banned prayer from our nation’s classrooms as being that first step to America’s downward spiral. I suppose that for me, the importance … Read more
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
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