Letter to the Editor:
The undermining of traditional public education started when Chris Sununu was elected governor and named Frank Edelblut to be Education Commissioner. Edelbut had no experience in public education. And it was soon clear, the Commissioner had a plan which had little (some would say nothing) to do with supporting traditional public education. In fact, he requested, supported and instituted innumerable policies and wrote op-ed pieces and made public statements, which have undermined public schools.
According to the statutes, the Education Commissioner “is responsible for the organizational goals of the department and represents the public interest in the administration of and improving the effectiveness and efficiency of administrative and instructional services to all public schools in New Hampshire.”
Notice it says public schools, not private schools or religious schools, or homeschooling, or learning pods, or any of the other entities that are approved vendors supported by our Education Commissioner.
This came in combination with Sununu packing the State Board of Education with school choice advocates instead of supporters of traditional public education. The result - a triple whammy.
Think about it -- the three entities in state government responsible at the state level for the public education system are not supporters of public education. Now combine this with the Legislature.
Republican legislators have also zealously supported alternatives to traditional public schools. (Note, this alignment is not with the vast majority of NH citizens/parents who still send their children to traditional public schools and support their town school budgets. So much for representing their constituents.)
The Legislature passed the EFA (voucher) program with funding coming from the Education Trust Fund. Then they had to change the legislation authorizing the Education Trust Fund so they could use those dollars for vouchers rather than adequate education grants for which the fund was designated.
Recently the superior court confirmed the state's obligation to fund an adequate education for every NH child, and determined the state is not providing enough money to cover this cost. Of course, the legislators know this as evidenced in their approval to provide $9,000 per student to public charter schools while providing only $4,200 per student to traditional public schools.
So after almost 50 years the state has not figured out how to meet its constitutional responsibility -- but today's leaders have decided we have funds for other alternatives. They go on to justify this by saying education dollars are attached to individual students and therefore their use is at the discretion of the parents. Since when did public tax dollars become the property of parents? .
It is NH's responsibility to provide for an adequate education for every NH child, if for no other reason than, future citizens need to be capable of the critical thinking needed to realize -- the folks who do not support public education do not have their or our best interests at heart?
Karen Burnett-Kurie
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