Once again, Rep. Moffett’s missive “Healthy future for public schools” (Monitor, Aug. 20) was a misguided attempt to rewrite history. While Rep. Moffett claims to be concerned for the well-being of public schools, his record shows that his patronage is feigned.
His support for public tax dollars to be spent on school vouchers for religious and private schools represents his and the Republican Party’s attempt to undermine the quality of NH public schools which have consistently ranked in the top five in the nation.
Rep. Moffett and his Republican leadership continue to dismantle quality school programs to unconstitutionally reward private and religious schools on the Granite State’s dime.
Again he attempts to discredit the N.H. School Funding Commission, the first serious look at the financing of public schools in over forty years. True, there was only one Republican representative on the commission, but sixteen other members of the commission including Republican citizens and the governor’s Republican appointee, enthusiastically support the Commission’s findings.
The Commission members parked partisan opinions at the door of all meetings. The Commission’s focus was on student outcomes and how we can reallocate current state funding sources fairly, to ensure that all students across the state have an equal educational opportunity.
This substantive report was denied a hearing by the Republican leadership on the House Education Committee. The result of that denial was that the partisan interests of the Republican Party continue widening the disparity of school funding to underserved and overtaxed poorer communities.
We need to find the common ground on education issues. It is Rep. Moffett and his Republican partners that need to reassess their partisan approach to public education. In the future, when Rep. Moffett expresses his opinion, you may benefit from recognizing he is only telling half the story.
(Mel Myler is ranking Democrat on the House Education Committee.)