Apparently Matt Southerton, Director, NH Center for Innovative Schools, wrote to NHDOE Commissioner Virginia Barry questioning the authenticity of this clearly marked analysis of the impact of HB 435, the bill to charter school tuition aid.  This morning, the Department of Education responded with this letter to Mr. Southerton.

The first point to make is that, as I said here this morning, the projections are obviously made – with great attention to detail – by NHDOE.  In addition, NHDOE responded point-by-point to a number of the objections Mr. Southerton apparently raised in his letter – points which were faithfully repeated by Charlie Arlinghaus in his Union Leader column this morning.

This should end the back and forth about the authenticity and validity of the NHDOE projections.  The only question now is whether House members think New Hampshire can afford to build a second, state-funded, charter school system in addition to our locally-funded public schools.