The following piece appeared in the Union Leader.
Looks like our only saving grace is changing the make up of the House and Senate. As long as our legislators insist on pandering to educrats instead of doing what is best for New Hampshire's children and taxpayers we are at risk for increased taxes and increased educational spending. Public schools are GOVERNMENT schools and are plagued with corruption, wasteful spending and patronage just like all other forms of government. The only solution is choice.
Losing Londonderry: State caves to the towns
THE STATE last week asked the New Hampshire Supreme Court to dismiss Londonderry's school funding lawsuit, the remnants of Claremont. That might sound like a relief, but it is far from it.
The Londonderry lawsuit towns, successors to the towns that sued the state in 1991 in the Claremont education funding case, say they are satisfied that the state is following through on the court's mandate to define and fund an adequate education. The state says that because it is complying with the last court ruling, the case can be dismissed.
In short, the state has conceded. The dismissal request means the state has agreed that it is constitutionally obligated to define and fund an "adequate education."
And that means that taxpayers are on the hook for a bundle. The total amount? That's yet to be determined. Legislators this summer passed a law obligating the state to pay for a slew of new services, but they attached no price tag. That comes later.
The only saving grace is that Gov. John Lynch remains determined to target state aid to needy districts. If he can push through a constitutional amendment to allow that (the Supreme Court outlawed it in the Londonderry ruling), taxpayers won't be on the hook for quite as much money as they are now.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Friday, August 17, 2007
Suit Drop but the Damage is Done.
The following article appeared in the Union Leader.
My favorite line in the story below is "Fifteen participating towns and school districts gave almost $160,000 of public money toward legal expenses for the case. NHCafe plans to ask the court to award that money back to it, so the money can be held in a "war chest" in case more legal action is needed, Young said." War it is, educrats are more concerned about money and protecting their entitlement program called public education. Our education system is no longer public it is been hijacked by the educrats and unions who want to divert control from the local level to the state level. State control means these greedy people only have to persuade legislators to feed their insatiable thirst for money rather than having to persuade voters locally. No matter how much money we give these people it will never be enough.
We wonder how many taxpayers in these communities agreed to have their own tax dollars used against them to have their tax dollars raised in the future.
Group agrees to drop education suit
By TRENT SPINER
Union Leader Correspondent
Thursday, Aug. 16, 2007
LONDONDERRY – A coalition of communities has agreed to dismiss its long-standing court case against the state over adequate education.
Three years after suing the state to define, cost out, fund and hold local schools responsible for an adequate education, the New Hampshire Communities for Adequate Funding of Education (NHCafe) said it believes the Legislature will act within a year to complete mandates set by the Supreme Court.
"What they have done, in our opinion, is made a good faith effort to define an adequate education," said Steve Young, president of the watchdog group representing Londonderry, Merrimack and other communities.
►Legislature defines an adequate education
He said his group believes the Legislature will be able to put a price on its new definition of an adequate education by February and determine a way to fund it by that June.
"We think the Legislature and governor will act during the upcoming legislative session to address the remaining mandates," said Nate Greenberg, Londonderry superintendent of schools.
"But if they act in a manner that we believe is unlawful, or that we believe they fail to act, we have asked that we retain the right to bring further legal action."
Young said the decision to drop the case came after the Supreme Court asked for the group's opinion while trying to decide if the case should be remanded to the Superior Court for further examination. If that were to happen, the Superior Court would have had the power to figure out the full cost and funding mechanism needed to pay for the Legislature's definition of education.
Young said he hopes the Legislature will be a better arena for that decision to be made.
"We think this is the best way for the entire state of New Hampshire, especially the children," he said.
"By June 30 of next year, we may actually have a bill that adequately funds education that the average man on the street can understand."
Fifteen participating towns and school districts gave almost $160,000 of public money toward legal expenses for the case. NHCafe plans to ask the court to award that money back to it, so the money can be held in a "war chest" in case more legal action is needed, Young said.
NHCafe members and their contribution amounts are the town of Amherst, $5,000; Amherst SAU 39, $6,800; Auburn SAU 15, $4,000; Candia SAU 15, $2,400; Concord SAU 8, $10,000; Dover SAU 11, $5,000; Hampstead SAU 55, $15,000; Hooksett SAU 15, $8,280; Londonderry SAU 12, $20,000; town of Londonderry, $10,000; Merrimack SAU 26, $20,000; town of Merrimack, $10,000; Nottingham SAU 44, $1,500; Pelham SAU 28, $5,000; Plaistow SAU 55, $15,000; town of Plaistow, $5,000; Salem SAU, 57 $5,000; Windham SAU, 28 $5,000
The Attorney General's Office will release its opinion on whether the case should be remanded back to the Superior Court by Aug. 27.
"I think it's a pretty big move," said Young. "The interesting thing will be what the state's response is. I would expect that they will lock arms and work with us.
"They defined it, they have said they will fulfill these other three mandates. The only thing they could say now was that they were kidding."
Greenberg said changes to the law could impact school funding by the 2008-2009 academic year.
My favorite line in the story below is "Fifteen participating towns and school districts gave almost $160,000 of public money toward legal expenses for the case. NHCafe plans to ask the court to award that money back to it, so the money can be held in a "war chest" in case more legal action is needed, Young said." War it is, educrats are more concerned about money and protecting their entitlement program called public education. Our education system is no longer public it is been hijacked by the educrats and unions who want to divert control from the local level to the state level. State control means these greedy people only have to persuade legislators to feed their insatiable thirst for money rather than having to persuade voters locally. No matter how much money we give these people it will never be enough.
We wonder how many taxpayers in these communities agreed to have their own tax dollars used against them to have their tax dollars raised in the future.
Group agrees to drop education suit
By TRENT SPINER
Union Leader Correspondent
Thursday, Aug. 16, 2007
LONDONDERRY – A coalition of communities has agreed to dismiss its long-standing court case against the state over adequate education.
Three years after suing the state to define, cost out, fund and hold local schools responsible for an adequate education, the New Hampshire Communities for Adequate Funding of Education (NHCafe) said it believes the Legislature will act within a year to complete mandates set by the Supreme Court.
"What they have done, in our opinion, is made a good faith effort to define an adequate education," said Steve Young, president of the watchdog group representing Londonderry, Merrimack and other communities.
►Legislature defines an adequate education
He said his group believes the Legislature will be able to put a price on its new definition of an adequate education by February and determine a way to fund it by that June.
"We think the Legislature and governor will act during the upcoming legislative session to address the remaining mandates," said Nate Greenberg, Londonderry superintendent of schools.
"But if they act in a manner that we believe is unlawful, or that we believe they fail to act, we have asked that we retain the right to bring further legal action."
Young said the decision to drop the case came after the Supreme Court asked for the group's opinion while trying to decide if the case should be remanded to the Superior Court for further examination. If that were to happen, the Superior Court would have had the power to figure out the full cost and funding mechanism needed to pay for the Legislature's definition of education.
Young said he hopes the Legislature will be a better arena for that decision to be made.
"We think this is the best way for the entire state of New Hampshire, especially the children," he said.
"By June 30 of next year, we may actually have a bill that adequately funds education that the average man on the street can understand."
Fifteen participating towns and school districts gave almost $160,000 of public money toward legal expenses for the case. NHCafe plans to ask the court to award that money back to it, so the money can be held in a "war chest" in case more legal action is needed, Young said.
NHCafe members and their contribution amounts are the town of Amherst, $5,000; Amherst SAU 39, $6,800; Auburn SAU 15, $4,000; Candia SAU 15, $2,400; Concord SAU 8, $10,000; Dover SAU 11, $5,000; Hampstead SAU 55, $15,000; Hooksett SAU 15, $8,280; Londonderry SAU 12, $20,000; town of Londonderry, $10,000; Merrimack SAU 26, $20,000; town of Merrimack, $10,000; Nottingham SAU 44, $1,500; Pelham SAU 28, $5,000; Plaistow SAU 55, $15,000; town of Plaistow, $5,000; Salem SAU, 57 $5,000; Windham SAU, 28 $5,000
The Attorney General's Office will release its opinion on whether the case should be remanded back to the Superior Court by Aug. 27.
"I think it's a pretty big move," said Young. "The interesting thing will be what the state's response is. I would expect that they will lock arms and work with us.
"They defined it, they have said they will fulfill these other three mandates. The only thing they could say now was that they were kidding."
Greenberg said changes to the law could impact school funding by the 2008-2009 academic year.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
10 public school "Signposts of Failure"
* Between 1960 and 1995, average per-pupil spending in U.S. public schools rose 212% in inflation-adjusted dollars.
* Between 1960 and 1995, the student/teacher ratio has dropped by 35% -- from approximately 26 students for every one U.S. public school teacher to only 17.
* Between 1960 and 1995, the average salary of U.S. public school teachers jumped 45% in inflation-adjusted dollars.
* In 1994, fewer than 50% of the personnel employed by U.S. public schools were teachers.
* American 12th graders rank 19th out of 21 industrialized countries in mathematics achievement and 16th out of 21 nations in science.
* In fourth grade, 77% of children in urban high-poverty schools are reading "below basic" levels on the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests.
* Since 1983, over 10 million public school students have reached the 12th grade level without learning to read at the basic level.
* Since 1983, more than 20 million students have reached the 12th grade unable to do basic math.
* Since 1983, more than 25 million students have reached the 12th grade not knowing the essentials of U.S. history.
* In 1995, nearly 30% of first-time college freshmen enrolled in at least one remedial course to compensate for a sub-standard high school education.
http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
"Look at the track record," said Dasbach. "More funding has been tried. It failed. Smaller classes have been tried. They failed. Higher-priced teachers have been tried. They failed. More educational bureaucrats have been tried. They failed.
"In fact, the only thing we haven't tried yet is freedom: The freedom of parents to use their own money to send their children to the non-profit, religious, or private school of their choice -- non-government schools that effectively teach the values parents want," he said.
"It's something that George W. Bush and other Republicans don't seem to understand: Freedom and responsibility are a prerequisite for morality, respect, and character. So why don't we try it in education?"
The above information is directly from the Libertarian Rock website and was written in 1999. We are still failing our children but spending more to do it. To read the rest of the story go to the Libertarian Rock website.
New Hampshire failed our children with the passage of HB 927 this past week. Just sit back and watch how New Hampshire will spend more on education while student performance will decline over time.
There is only one choice if you want to serve our children and not pander to public education employees and that is to give parents a choice as to where their children can be educated.
* Between 1960 and 1995, the student/teacher ratio has dropped by 35% -- from approximately 26 students for every one U.S. public school teacher to only 17.
* Between 1960 and 1995, the average salary of U.S. public school teachers jumped 45% in inflation-adjusted dollars.
* In 1994, fewer than 50% of the personnel employed by U.S. public schools were teachers.
* American 12th graders rank 19th out of 21 industrialized countries in mathematics achievement and 16th out of 21 nations in science.
* In fourth grade, 77% of children in urban high-poverty schools are reading "below basic" levels on the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests.
* Since 1983, over 10 million public school students have reached the 12th grade level without learning to read at the basic level.
* Since 1983, more than 20 million students have reached the 12th grade unable to do basic math.
* Since 1983, more than 25 million students have reached the 12th grade not knowing the essentials of U.S. history.
* In 1995, nearly 30% of first-time college freshmen enrolled in at least one remedial course to compensate for a sub-standard high school education.
http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
"Look at the track record," said Dasbach. "More funding has been tried. It failed. Smaller classes have been tried. They failed. Higher-priced teachers have been tried. They failed. More educational bureaucrats have been tried. They failed.
"In fact, the only thing we haven't tried yet is freedom: The freedom of parents to use their own money to send their children to the non-profit, religious, or private school of their choice -- non-government schools that effectively teach the values parents want," he said.
"It's something that George W. Bush and other Republicans don't seem to understand: Freedom and responsibility are a prerequisite for morality, respect, and character. So why don't we try it in education?"
The above information is directly from the Libertarian Rock website and was written in 1999. We are still failing our children but spending more to do it. To read the rest of the story go to the Libertarian Rock website.
New Hampshire failed our children with the passage of HB 927 this past week. Just sit back and watch how New Hampshire will spend more on education while student performance will decline over time.
There is only one choice if you want to serve our children and not pander to public education employees and that is to give parents a choice as to where their children can be educated.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Educational Intelligence Agency Spending Statistics for 2004-2005
The Education Intelligence Agency has updated the Public School District Enrollment and Spending for 14,000 public school district.
The average per pupil spending for 2004-2005 was $8701 in the United States, New Hampshire was spending $9448 per student during that same time period. During the 2004-2005 school year New Hampshire had an enrollment of 202,195 students this is down -3.01% since 2000-2001. In 2004-2005 New Hampshire had 15,297 teachers up 6.67% from 2000-2001 despite a 3.01% decrease in student enrollment. During this same time period student per pupil spending went up 33.73% while inflation only went up 10% during that same time period. New Hampshire's student has 13 students for every one teacher in New Hampshire for the 2004-2005 school year.
The average per pupil spending for 2004-2005 was $8701 in the United States, New Hampshire was spending $9448 per student during that same time period. During the 2004-2005 school year New Hampshire had an enrollment of 202,195 students this is down -3.01% since 2000-2001. In 2004-2005 New Hampshire had 15,297 teachers up 6.67% from 2000-2001 despite a 3.01% decrease in student enrollment. During this same time period student per pupil spending went up 33.73% while inflation only went up 10% during that same time period. New Hampshire's student has 13 students for every one teacher in New Hampshire for the 2004-2005 school year.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Inadequate: Education definition fails
The following editorial appeared in the Union Leader.
If you can attend please attend the rally at the State House on June 27th at 9:00 am.
Inadequate: Education definition fails
HOUSE AND SENATE negotiators last week agreed on a definition of "adequate education" that would wreck state finances.
The definition includes full-day kindergarten, meaning that every district now providing half-day or no kindergarten will be required to upgrade, costing the state tens of millions of dollars.
The definition also requires more intensive investments in schools deemed to have special needs. Another big cost for state taxpayers.
The bill is quite vague, leaving exact definitions to the executive branch, and comes with no price tag. The cost is to be determined by a legislative committee. If that sounds familiar, it's basically the arrangement the Supreme Court's Londonderry ruling, which commanded legislators to define "adequate education" with great specificity, struck down.
The court wrote that "under the statutory scheme there is no way a citizen or a school district in this state can determine the distinct substantive content of a constitutionally adequate education. Consequently, its cost cannot be isolated. Such a system is also impervious to meaningful judicial review."
That would seem to apply to this bill as well.
"Any definition of constitutional adequacy crafted by the political branches must be sufficiently clear to permit common understanding and allow for an objective determination of costs," the court wrote.
This bill does not appear to be "sufficiently clear," as the court mandated.
Now, we think the court was completely wrong in its ruling and its orders were preposterous. Legislators could have told the court to buzz off. Or they could have crafted a definition that obligated the state to no more than it currently pays.
Instead, they came up with a broad and vague definition that will saddle the state with an enormous new burden that almost certainly will have to be financed with a broadbased tax -- and that is subject to more lawsuits because it appears to fail to do what the court ordered.
Gov. John Lynch has indicated his approval of this bill. But he should not sign it unless legislators also pass CACR 19, the constitutional amendment that would render the Londonderry ruling moot. With that amendment, this awful definition of educational adequacy could be changed or abolished and the court could say nothing.
Monday, June 25, 2007
John Stossel: Bill Gates needs an economics course
John Stossel hits one out of the park again with the article below which appears on TownHall.com. Not only does Bill Gates need a course in economics but it should be a requirement for legislators and teachers as well. Unfortunately it seems that most of them have only studied Karl Marx's theory of economics.
John Stossel: Bill Gates needs an economics course
DROPPING OUT of college didn't stop Bill Gates from making tons of money, but it kept him from classes where he might have learned about the beauty of spontaneous market processes.
Never mind. I forgot that he attended Harvard. He might not have learned about markets after all.
Gates spoke at Harvard recently, urging graduating students to take on the "world's deepest inequities [including] world hunger ... the scarcity of clean water ... children who die from diseases we can cure." All of us want those problems solved, and through their charitable foundation, Gates and his wife, Melinda, have certainly put their money where their mouths are. But Gates seems unaware that these problems can't be eliminated in the simplistic way he advocates.
He told the grads, "The market did not reward saving the lives of these children [in poor countries], and governments did not subsidize it. So the children died because their mothers and their fathers had no power in the market and no voice in the system."
What is Gates talking about?
Can he name one poor country that permits the free market to operate? The problem is not that the market doesn't make it profitable to save lives -- it most certainly does. The problem is that Third World countries have overbearing, corrupt governments that are obstacles to private property and freedom. That's why the children's parents have no voice or power.
Poor people in the West and in East Asia lifted themselves out of poverty by relying largely on the unplanned market process. That process -- countless individuals pursuing their own interests by trading with one another -- is, as Nobel Prize-winning economist F.A. Hayek put it, a "discovery procedure." Through the price system and free competition, it clarifies tradeoffs of scarce resources, generates the lowest-cost solutions, and provides feedback about success and failure through profit and loss.
This spontaneous order is far better at "saving the lives of these children."
Maybe the Gates Foundation's private charity will work wonders, but more government-to-government subsidies won't do the trick. The trillions spent in foreign aid have little to show for it. As William Easterly writes in "The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good," "Economic development happens, not through aid, but through the homegrown efforts of entrepreneurs and social and political reformers. While the West was agonizing over a few tens of billion dollars in aid, the citizens of India and China raised their own incomes by $715 billion by their own efforts in free markets."
At Harvard, Gates said, "We can make market forces work better for the poor if we can develop a more creative capitalism -- if we can stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a profit, or at least make a living, serving people who are suffering from the worst inequities."
He misses the point. Gates faults the free market for problems caused by governments.
What constricts the reach of the free market is the state. Gates seems oblivious to all the ways that governments here and abroad cripple enterprise. In poor countries, corrupt bureaucracies smother entrepreneurship while enriching cronies.
The lack of formal property rights and stable law keeps average people from accumulating capital. So the poor stay poor. That's what causes "scarcity of clean water" and kills "children who die from diseases we can cure."
Gates said, "We also can press governments around the world to spend taxpayer money in ways that better reflect the values of the people who pay the taxes."
He should know that for spending to better reflect people's values, governments must butt out. Politicians are notoriously bad at improving the lot of their populations. What they are good at is confiscating money and spending it the way they want it spent.
It's only when governments do less, and tax people less, that people are free to earn and keep their own money.
You want poor countries to get rich, Bill Gates? Work for free-market reform.
John Stossel is co-anchor of ABC News' "20/20" and the author of "Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity: Get Out the Shovel -- Why Everything You Know is Wrong."
John Stossel: Bill Gates needs an economics course
DROPPING OUT of college didn't stop Bill Gates from making tons of money, but it kept him from classes where he might have learned about the beauty of spontaneous market processes.
Never mind. I forgot that he attended Harvard. He might not have learned about markets after all.
Gates spoke at Harvard recently, urging graduating students to take on the "world's deepest inequities [including] world hunger ... the scarcity of clean water ... children who die from diseases we can cure." All of us want those problems solved, and through their charitable foundation, Gates and his wife, Melinda, have certainly put their money where their mouths are. But Gates seems unaware that these problems can't be eliminated in the simplistic way he advocates.
He told the grads, "The market did not reward saving the lives of these children [in poor countries], and governments did not subsidize it. So the children died because their mothers and their fathers had no power in the market and no voice in the system."
What is Gates talking about?
Can he name one poor country that permits the free market to operate? The problem is not that the market doesn't make it profitable to save lives -- it most certainly does. The problem is that Third World countries have overbearing, corrupt governments that are obstacles to private property and freedom. That's why the children's parents have no voice or power.
Poor people in the West and in East Asia lifted themselves out of poverty by relying largely on the unplanned market process. That process -- countless individuals pursuing their own interests by trading with one another -- is, as Nobel Prize-winning economist F.A. Hayek put it, a "discovery procedure." Through the price system and free competition, it clarifies tradeoffs of scarce resources, generates the lowest-cost solutions, and provides feedback about success and failure through profit and loss.
This spontaneous order is far better at "saving the lives of these children."
Maybe the Gates Foundation's private charity will work wonders, but more government-to-government subsidies won't do the trick. The trillions spent in foreign aid have little to show for it. As William Easterly writes in "The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good," "Economic development happens, not through aid, but through the homegrown efforts of entrepreneurs and social and political reformers. While the West was agonizing over a few tens of billion dollars in aid, the citizens of India and China raised their own incomes by $715 billion by their own efforts in free markets."
At Harvard, Gates said, "We can make market forces work better for the poor if we can develop a more creative capitalism -- if we can stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a profit, or at least make a living, serving people who are suffering from the worst inequities."
He misses the point. Gates faults the free market for problems caused by governments.
What constricts the reach of the free market is the state. Gates seems oblivious to all the ways that governments here and abroad cripple enterprise. In poor countries, corrupt bureaucracies smother entrepreneurship while enriching cronies.
The lack of formal property rights and stable law keeps average people from accumulating capital. So the poor stay poor. That's what causes "scarcity of clean water" and kills "children who die from diseases we can cure."
Gates said, "We also can press governments around the world to spend taxpayer money in ways that better reflect the values of the people who pay the taxes."
He should know that for spending to better reflect people's values, governments must butt out. Politicians are notoriously bad at improving the lot of their populations. What they are good at is confiscating money and spending it the way they want it spent.
It's only when governments do less, and tax people less, that people are free to earn and keep their own money.
You want poor countries to get rich, Bill Gates? Work for free-market reform.
John Stossel is co-anchor of ABC News' "20/20" and the author of "Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity: Get Out the Shovel -- Why Everything You Know is Wrong."
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Can Full-Day Kindergarten Level the Playing Field.
On June 21st Senator Iris Estebrook and her fellow cronies voted to add full day kindergarten to the definition of an "adequate education" in the passing of HB 927. This clearly was pandering to the educrats and unions. Anyone in their right mind and who has done research knows that kindergarten does little to enhance long term student achievement.
For more information on this we suggest readers visit the Rand Corporation website. The following brief comes directly from their site.
"Abstract
For children who enter school unready to learn, policymakers have been looking to full-day kindergarten as a way to level the playing field. Using longitudinal survey data on a nationally representative sample of children, this RAND study examined issues related to school readiness and the effect of full-day kindergarten on student performance. Both academic and nonacademic school readiness skills at entry to kindergarten were significantly related to reading and mathematics achievement in fifth grade. As with earlier studies, the study finds that full-time kindergarten programs may not enhance achievement in the long term."
To read the full report go to the Rand Corporation Website.
For more information on this we suggest readers visit the Rand Corporation website. The following brief comes directly from their site.
"Abstract
For children who enter school unready to learn, policymakers have been looking to full-day kindergarten as a way to level the playing field. Using longitudinal survey data on a nationally representative sample of children, this RAND study examined issues related to school readiness and the effect of full-day kindergarten on student performance. Both academic and nonacademic school readiness skills at entry to kindergarten were significantly related to reading and mathematics achievement in fifth grade. As with earlier studies, the study finds that full-time kindergarten programs may not enhance achievement in the long term."
To read the full report go to the Rand Corporation Website.
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