Opinion: Kearsarge Regional School District: Right issue, wrong target
Published: 12-27-2024 4:00 PM |
Sue McKevitt lives in Bradford.
On Jan. 4, the Kearsarge Regional School Board will hold a deliberative session, voters only chance for input, to discuss the proposed upcoming year’s school budget. Included is Article #5, crafted by petition, to put an approximate 17% spending cap on democracy.
Why do I say that? Because education is the cornerstone of American democracy and to put a cap on educational spending is to put a cap on democracy.
Thomas Jefferson recognized the link between the two. He said democracy depends on an educated populace thus his strong advocacy for free public education. Cut education, you attack our democracy. The hue and cry that the state’s lack of financial commitment to public education is killing us through property taxes is justifiable and real. We are 50th in the nation regarding state contribution to education. (NH Fiscal Policy Institute, Nov. 2023)
The crafters of this petition, however, have aimed at the wrong target. It’s not the fault of the third grade student with dyslexia who needs different instruction or the sixth grade student with ADHD who needs help, or the wonderful, underappreciated teachers who struggle to help all kids flourish. The tax cap would impact, staffing and resources, potentially close one elementary school, eliminate 90 positions, cut bus service, sports, and send special education students out of district for which we at the local level will have to pay.
The fault lies in the governor’s office for appointing (and reappointing) a commissioner of education (Edelblut) who is set on destroying public education. And in doing so, he is destroying the cornerstone of American democracy.
How is it being done? He and the complicit legislators are doing so by the establishment of the unmonitored and unaccountable “voucher system,” couched in Orwellian doublespeak as NH Education Freedom Accounts that has so far siphoned $23.8 million and projected $66 million away from public education. (NH Business Review, May, 2024) to give financial rebates to parents already paying for their children to attend private or religious schools.
Edelblut is further proposing to cut already limited state funding for special education, which both federal law and New Hampshire State Department of Education rules say that students with special learning needs must have access to a free and public education. (See the Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) as outlined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and NH Rules: ED 1100, Standards for the Education of Children with Disabilities.)
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If Edelblut has his way, those costs will come back to towns and cities to foot the bill. If you think your taxes are onerous now, just wait until we are told we have to cover those services.
Article #5 is picking on the victim of this problem, in this case, public education. It’s the right issue and the wrong target. It’s time to focus on the perpetrators. Sununu is leaving. Edelblut’s second appointment is up two months after incoming Governor Ayotte takes office. She is a clone of Sununu and might just reappoint Edelblut to another term. We cannot let that happen.
I know many people wrongly believe their voice doesn’t matter when it comes to focusing on the politicos in Concord. Your voice, however, small as you think it is, is a powerful one, and is the bedrock of our democracy. If you don’t believe in the power of one, and that you have that power, think about this.
Have you ever slept in a tent with a mosquito? That is the power of one! Be the mosquito in Ayotte’s tent. Tell her to get rid of the problem; replace Edelblut and nominate someone who believes in public education, eliminate the voucher program and fully fund education, or at least raise us from the embarrassment of being ‘last in the nation.”
If you believe in democracy, by definition you believe in a free public education for all. And it’s deserving of your active support. On Jan. 4, to all registered voters living in the Kearsarge Regional School District area, please attend the deliberative session. Defeat Article #5. Stand up for our kids, the teachers, those who struggle to keep the system functioning under enormous challenges, and above all, for our democracy. Hope to see you there.