Inventor, author, statesman and visionary patriot, Ben Franklin was a preeminent American founder. Hundreds of communities, bridges, mountains, streets and more are named after this amazing man — as well as schools, to include Loudon’s Benjamin Franklin Academy, a new public charter school.
Now in its third year, BFA has almost doubled its enrollment since it began operations. Its focus on our American heritage especially appeals to me, as a former history teacher and Marine Corps veteran. As it grows and expands, BFA will also increasingly emphasize the trades — a very timely focus for our state’s modern economy. A concrete foundation is now in place for a brand new campus building which will be finished before the end of the current school year. And a wonderful new dean/principal is generating inspiring energy at BFA as well.
To be sure, inevitable growing pains and hiccups mark the development of any new enterprise, whether it be Ben Franklin’s revolutionary America or this new academy in Loudon. We live and learn. But BFA offers great learning experiences at fractions of the per-pupil costs seen at traditional public schools. This appears to threaten “old school” education establishment folks.
A very telling example of this occurred after a local organization awarded BFA a $400 check to support the school’s efforts. This organization previously donated many times that amount to traditional public schools. A social media post by an ed establishment person then lamented the $400 award, claiming that the money would be better directed to SAU 46 (Merrimack Valley).
A subsequent post replied, “The SAU just got over $50 million from struggling taxpayers, and now they want BFA’s $400 as well?”
The public school devolution of recent decades is a subject for a different column, but it bears mentioning that competition and choice are good, even if they threaten existing monopolies. And public education overspending may be the single greatest threat to Granite State prosperity, as property taxes soar by design as liberal progressives clamor for state income taxes.
The ed establishment has long been threatened by home schooling and by school choice. And those establishment fears manifest themselves in attacks on alternatives like BFA. Instead of focusing on pedagogy, spending reform and fiscal efficiency, the establishment denigrates school choice while hoping to destroy nascent learning alternatives — like BFA.
I attended an SAU 46 budget hearing earlier this year where the board defended what many felt were obscene spending patterns combined with transparency concerns. I queried the 17 attending SAU officials about their lack of ideological diversity.
“Is there a single fiscal conservative amongst the 17 of you? Is there even one Republican?”
No one raised a hand.
Regular voters can be fairly faulted that school boards are dominated by over-spending progressives. The latter show up for school meetings. The former don’t until their pain reaches certain thresholds. Perhaps we’re finally figuring out that for public education to reform and flourish, school boards must represent entire communities, not just education establishments.
I once made myself available for a temporary 11-month opening on that board. My bona fides? I’d taught in public, parochial and military schools, as well as on the community college and university levels. I had a graduate degree in education. I’d earlier been elected to a different public school board. I served two terms on the House Education Committee.
I received one vote. I just didn’t fit into their club. Hence the need for more citizen engagement and more school board diversity. In the meantime, current board members should stop slandering the efforts of hardworking, caring individuals such as are found at BFA who want to provide options for our most precious resources — our children.
One hopes that rather than undercutting other educators we might all provide mutual support while creating various affordable and viable education alternatives.
A great Revolutionary War patriot once commented, “Either we all hang together, or we’ll all hang separately.”
That patriot was Benjamin Franklin.
State Representative Michael Moffett (R-Loudon) chairs the House Committee on State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs.