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Comment on Learn Everywhere from Berlin Superintendent Corinne Cascadden

February 13, 2019 1:00 pm / Leave a comment

We have been making the point that school districts work hard to ensure that their diplomas fit their students needs and are credible.  In expressing her own opposition to the Learn Everywhere program, Berlin Superintendent Corinne Cascadden sent the following comment to the State Board of Education on that very issue:

“Public School educators undertake a rigorous process for certification/licensing and schools make team decisions on what course of study is deserving of credits towards graduation. Allowing anyone who may or may not hold education credentials to propose course credit sets up for a “free-for-all” platform. We support personalized learning. Our schools are engaged in that process. There must be good checks and balances for our students to succeed and be valuable for the workforce. Why not depend on the professionalism of public school employees.”

This is sure to be a widely shared view.

 

Full court press for vouchers redux: Learn Everywhere

February 13, 2019 9:30 am / 1 Comment on Full court press for vouchers redux: Learn Everywhere

Learn Everywhere is clearly an all-hands-on-deck effort for Commissioner Edelblut and the national network of school choice advocates.

Here is video of the commissioner spending a Saturday morning with the School District Governance Association of New Hampshire, seeking to “help elected school district officials discover their powers….and resume their role of keeping schools and administration accountable to taxpayers.”  In a talk called “The Future of Schooling,” the theme of yesterday’s Union Leader op-ed, he is asking school board members to communicate with their superintendents and the State Board of Education in support of his Learn Everywhere proposal. (more…)

Letter to the State Board of Education commenting on the Learning Everywhere program

February 12, 2019 4:08 pm / 2 Comments on Letter to the State Board of Education commenting on the Learning Everywhere program

Members of the State Board of Education,
I comment for the record on the Initial Proposal of the Ed 1400 rules, the Learn Everywhere program.
The statute itself, RSA 193-E:2-a, V, reads like a extension of the ELO programs thriving in many of our schools.  But the proposed rule reads like an alternative to public education.  In fact, the recent Union Leader oped seemed to frame it that way.  Ms. Kerry McDonald said that Learn Everywhere would “….[loosen] the grip of schooling on education.….[W]e urgently need a new model of education….”
The board may not have that ambitious a goal, but what makes it possible for people to see it this way is that the state board, in effect, takes over responsibility for all New Hampshire’s locally issued diplomas in this section of the proposed rule (emphasis added):

(more…)

Vouchers revisited: “Public Education is much broader than public schooling.”

February 11, 2019 10:50 am / 6 Comments on Vouchers revisited: “Public Education is much broader than public schooling.”

Today’s Union Leader carries an oped that sets out clearly the new theme for those who would have talked in the past about “school choice”, “parental choice”, “government school monopoly” or how voucher funded private schools outperform public schools.

You saw this theme first when now Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut said at his Executive Council confirmation hearing that he intended to be responsible for all New Hampshire children, not just public school students.

And Senator John Reagan is proposing SB 280 which would almost double the state adequacy benchmark to $7,500 per student by increasing the Statewide Education Property Tax.  At the same time, the bill would count all private, religious and home schooled students in the calculation of a community’s adequacy grant and allow school boards to send any child to a private or religious school.

In other words, rather than fight the losing battle for a high profile statewide voucher program, SB 280 would issue vouchers locally that would use full state funding and local property taxing power to send students to private schools. (more…)

Two opportunities this week to email or testify against the “Learn Everywhere” proposal to hijack high school diplomas

February 10, 2019 6:55 pm / 2 Comments on Two opportunities this week to email or testify against the “Learn Everywhere” proposal to hijack high school diplomas

We’ve posted about the threat posed by the education department’s proposed “Learn Everywhere” program.  And here’s an oped appearing in papers around the state making the same case, that Learn Everywhere is actually a fundamental threat to the integrity of the high school diplomas granted by every district in the State. (more…)

The NH state board of education proposes to grant graduation credits toward local high school diplomas

December 17, 2018 11:22 am / 2 Comments on The NH state board of education proposes to grant graduation credits toward local high school diplomas

When Gov. Sununu says, “SB 435 was one of my major legislative priorities,”  he’s talking about a one sentence amendment to New Hampshire’s definition of an adequate education:

The state board of education shall adopt rules….relative to the approval of alternative programs for granting credit leading to graduation.

The harmless-sounding bill, sponsored by a dozen Republicans and three Democrats, sailed through both bodies on voice votes (based on near unanimous committee support).

Legislators and school administrators probably did not realize the trap that had been laid for them until the State Board of Education approved the initial draft of the of the rule required by that sentence.

What does the proposed rule actually say?  Here it is.  Under the proposed rule, the state board grants itself the authority to make use of the diploma issued by any local school board in New Hampshire. (more…)

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