Letter: Tenth in the nation

During Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s inaugural address, she mentioned that NH is tenth in the nation for education spending for K-12. What she left out is just how we get that ranking. It certainly is not because of the amount the state of NH contributes towards each student in our public schools. In that category we are 49th. The state contributes only a little over 4,000 dollars per student. Meanwhile, the average cost per student in NH totals 26,000 dollars per student. Who pays the rest is obvious to all of us in NH — the property tax payers fund the lion’s share.

For Gov. Ayotte, her statement made a good sound bite, but it was misleading and disingenuous. NH will be cutting funding for special education and, in the same breath, increasing funding for Education Freedom Accounts. The truth is that over 94 percent of our NH children are being educated in public schools. Why on earth are Republican-led administrations so intent on cutting funding for over 94 percent of children attending public schools?

Kelly Ayotte also mentioned budget shortfalls and that budgets will need to be cut. Doing away with the Interest and Dividends tax, the Business Profits Tax and the Business Enterprise Tax is designed to benefit only the wealthy in NH. How do we pay for these shortfalls? We cut programs that benefit the greatest majority just so tax cuts can add to the wealth of the wealthiest.

Paul Pelchat

Concord