News – Politics – Opinion – Podcasts
It’s become the norm for Superintendents to eliminate teachers if they do not get the budget they want. This time the Portsmouth Superintendent is threatening to eliminate teaching positions if he doesn’t get the increase in the school budget. Why is it, they never take that hammer to their own salaries? Most SAU administrators working … Read more
Paul Ingbretson continues the Claremont Decision discussion with Senate Counsel Attorney Rick Lehmann, who also practices law in New Hampshire. He’s been involved with the Court filing amicus briefs on behalf of the Senate. ln this podcast Rick lays out some of the separation of powers issues resulting from those decisions. If you missed Part … Read more
News reports are punctuated regularly by echoes from the great COVID-19 pandemic: monkeypox is on the rise; bird flu is in cows … or humans … or Canadian swine. The COVID-19 panic that disrupted the global economy is in the rearview mirror, but the prospect of another pandemic raises important questions about civil rights. A … Read more
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced a bill on Friday that would implement the repeatedly expressed desire of President Donald Trump to shut down the United States Department of Education. Shutting down the Department of Education and moving education decisions out of the control of the US government were actions Trump proposed on multiple occasions through his presidential … Read more
In part one of this podcast series, attorney Greg Sorg is a former NH State Representative who has successfully filed briefs with the Supreme Court arguing against continuing involvement of the court in legislative functions. He lays out the history and key points of the Claremont Decision. I want to thank Paul Ingbretson for making … Read more
School administrators are jumping on the SEL Social and Emotional Learning bandwagon. It may sound good, wanting to help children with their social and emotional needs, but what are children really learning? One SEL program used in Merrimack, and other schools, is called Second Step. I wont go in depth on the data mining that … Read more
Parents recently testified to the legislature that public schools are not “safe” or “suitable” for their children. That’s because the state has bribed public schools, using taxpayer dollars, to implement every education fad from restorative justice, which results in widespread discipline and bullying problems, to social emotional learning, which replaces academic instruction with behavior modification. … Read more
There is no connection between money and academic outcomes unless you mean that kids can learn more for a lot less – there is a lot of evidence for that. But the Ed god behemoth demands to be fed, and those who benefit politically from this arrangement insist the answer is more. Always more. They … Read more
It seems that the State has decided that they need to move mental and medical clinics into your child’s school. Why even parent your children? It appears as if the State, in conjunction with school officials, will happily take over your job. There is no need to take your child to see their doctor during … Read more
The State New Hampshire and its towns and cities provide the opportunity to obtain a publicly funded education to every school-age child, regardless of income. And no one complains that this unfairly benefits higher-income households. To illustrate the point, the median household income in Hopkinton is $130,216. That’s 55% higher than in Concord ($83,701) and … Read more
Although many people resist acknowledging this, we use a kind of Marxism to fund our schools: The Accidental Marxist The Accidental Marxist, Part 2 That is, by taxing each property owner in a school district a flat rate on the assessed value of his property, we take more from people who have more. So that’s … Read more
One of the many problems with universal EFAs is that they take money from people who don’t have it, to give to people who don’t need it. Let’s ask a straightforward question: Under what conditions should we give tax money to, or spend tax money on, people who can afford to get along without it? … Read more
One of the many problems with EFAs is that they simply continue the Pay-and-Pray paradigm that is at the root of our failing school system. Let’s ask a straightforward question: Under what conditions should we spend tax money on something for which we have no specific, agreed-upon goals (and therefore no way to judge whether … Read more
Governor Scott is set to unveil his proposals for education reform this week, fulfilling campaign promises to lower property taxes which are a direct result of public school spending. But there are powerful special interests that want to keep that money flowing from your pocket to theirs. Chief among them, the Vermont Teacher’s Union, the … Read more
Let’s ask a straightforward question: Why should we spend tax money on education? The New Hampshire Constitution gives one possible answer: Education is essential to the preservation of a free government. The New Hampshire Supreme Court gave an expanded version of this answer: Every educable child should have the opportunity to acquire the knowledge … Read more
What did we learn from the Universal School Choice HB115 hearing? More importantly, WHY do I, as a Veteran Home Educator and Home Education Advocate in NH, care so much? Well, folks, I’ll tell you. The politics of this thing are ugly. Education Freedom Accounts and “School Choice” are ideas that Republicans nationwide invented in … Read more
I hope taxpayers aren’t covering the cost of admission. The NEA is the largest labor union in the US and, therefore, the largest teachers union, so when the NEA in NH announces a teacher’s conference, you’d be right to wonder what they want teachers to know. If you happen to be a member of the … Read more
Good Morning, Commissioner Edelblut, Senators Abbas and Lang, I am writing to you about the Special Education shortfalls in our state. As an older special needs mom with strong connections to the NH disability community and after reading the following article and getting a message from my Senator, Daryl Abbas, I have some major concerns. … Read more
Yesterday, there was a hearing in Concord to expand the EFA (School Choice) program. The EFA program allows families to use state tax money, and take that to an alternative school if needed. It opens up options for families who want an alternative education for their children. Here is a link to the proposed legislation. … Read more
Dear Friends of Classical Education, We are pleased to announce that we have created the Acta Non Verba Foundation, a charity whose mission is to provide financial assistance and mentoring to new and early stage private and public classical schools. The rapid growth of classical education in the United States demonstrates that American parents want … Read more