Protect Our Rural Public Schools
Carroll County GOP Supports Urban Private Schools Over Rural Public Schools
Rural, conservative Republican legislators nationwide are leading the fight against educational vouchers in Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, Ohio, Arkansas and Arizona. The reason: there are few to no private schools in many rural areas. There are many in urban, high population areas. Their rural schools suffer as money is siphoned off to urban private schools.
In Carroll County the GOP is taking an opposite approach. State Reps. Mike Belcher (R-Wakefield), Katy Peternel (R-Wolfeboro) and Glenn Cordelli (R-Tuftonboro), all on the State House Education Committee, are pushing to divert rural public school resources to urban private and religious schools. They claim it is about parental choice, but what choice if there are few to no private schools available.
According to the NH Department of Education, Carroll County has just two nonpublic schools. One in Wolfeboro (sticker price for day students about $40,000) and a Christian school in Ossipee with a total of about six K-8 teachers. Hillsborough County has nearly 50 nonpublic schools. It’s easy to see why all the state’s private school voucher money is going to urban, high population areas while rural schools receive fewer resources.
Dark Money, Texas PAC Has Foothold on NH GOP
Young Americans for Liberty (YAL), an anti-public education political action committee (PAC) based in Texas has found a way to use its dark money to get a “foothold” – its word – on the New Hampshire state legislature. YAL lists nearly 100 NH GOP state house representatives as members of its coalition. It wants to end public schools.
Seven of the 10 GOP members on the State House Education Committee get YAL support, including GOP Carroll County State House Reps. Belcher, Peternel and Cordelli. Both Peternel and Cordelli received thousands of dollars to attend YAL anti-public school indoctrination sessions in states like Florida.
If any GOP legislator doesn’t toe the YAL line, the billionaire backed PAC runs a right wing extremist candidate against them in the primaries. Last cycle they invested tens of thousand dollars to unseat moderate Republicans like Brodie Deshaies from Wolfeboro for extremists like Peternel. The YAL director in charge of that unseating bragged how using billionaire money YAL ousted RINOs in the primaries and won more than 50 NH house seat races overall.
The Big Lie: Vouchers Are to Help Low Income Families
When Education Freedom Act vouchers legislation was first pushed in New Hampshire, Rep. Cordelli argued it was for low income families. It took just two years for Cordelli, Peternel, Belcher and the vast majority of NH GOP legislators to try to pass legislation that would have enabled free vouchers for everyone. Fortunately, thanks to Democrats, and a few enlightened Republican legislators, the bill failed to pass.
Judging from what has transpired in Arizona, it is a good thing that it failed. Arizona now makes vouchers available for every family no matter how rich. As in New Hampshire, the vast majority of those taking the vouchers never had their children in public schools. The added cost has been devastating for Arizona. This headline from a ProPublica investigation sums up the problem: “School Vouchers Were Supposed to Save Taxpayer Money. Instead They Blew a Massive Hole in Arizona’s Budget.”
Adding, “Arizona, the model for voucher programs across the country, has spent so much money paying private schoolers’ tuition that it’s now facing hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state programs and projects.”
Arizona got itself in this mess, by first selling the idea of vouchers as a way for low income families to have the same choices as rich families. Then they flipped that reasoning to vouchers for everyone, including the super rich, who are now having their kids’ education subsidized by the super poor and all the rest of us.
If universal vouchers become law in New Hampshire, the same can be expected here, with our rural public schools taking massive cuts, while high end urban private schools and high income families prosper.
How to Stop the Attack on Rural Public Schools
We know that YAL and similar out of state dark money PACs, will do whatever they can to unseat local Republicans who work to protect our rural public schools. Hence, almost all of the 10 Carroll County GOP state representatives voted for the vouchers-for-all-give-away to enrich wealthy private school families in urban areas.
The only recourse is to vote for more Democrats who will protect our rural schools and our rural way of life.
Remember there are only two nonpublic schools in Carroll County and 50 urban Hillsborough County. So it is easy to see where most of the tax dollars are going. Given that the Arizona voucher model blew up the state budget, vouchers for all bodes poorly for our children and families who depend on our very fine public schools. The only real remedy is to Vote Blue in 2024!