Those deeply involved with the ins and outs of our Department of Education may remember that ED 306 requires that every eight years, a committee of education professionals must sit down to decide on the minimum standards of education for our state.
The committee then makes their recommendations public to solicit feedback in various forums throughout the state. (Those with long memories may recall the near repeal of the Family and Consumer Sciences requirement for high school graduation). This system has worked for decades and has earned New Hampshire a consistent ranking within the top five educational systems of our country.
While growing up in New Hampshire, I learned that our plucky little state had earned quite the reputation for providing some of the best education on a shoestring budget. This year, it seems that our Education Commissioner, Frank Edelblut, and the chair of the House Education Committee, Rick Ladd, have a plan to circumvent this thoughtful (albeit messy) process.
The two have conspired to propose HB 1671. This bill would turn over the power of deciding the minimum standards of education directly to the legislature, with no prior input from education professionals or citizens. Furthermore, the bill seeks to strike health, physical education, world languages, the arts, digital literacy, computer science and engineering from the list of Core Academic Domains, leaving only language arts, math, science and social studies on the list.
Those of us who have been watching can anticipate what the removal of these courses might mean for educational funding. It would be no surprise to suddenly learn that the cost of these courses will no longer be considered as part of an “adequate education” and that the costs of maintaining these courses will be left to the cities and towns of our state.
If a town is in a desperate state, would it be so far-fetched to imagine that these programs might disappear? What would this mean for equity in education in our state? It could mean that those in well-heeled towns will have access to a well-rounded education, with many opportunities for students to learn what might interest them in their college and career pursuits.
Towns that already struggle with high property taxes might now be forced to consider eliminating some of the very courses that inspire their children. It is hard not to imagine that the commissioner and the chair of the Education Committee are not trying to dismantle New Hampshire’s well-respected public education system. The difficulty is understanding why.
Is our state so desperate to cut costs at a time when our economy is reportedly quite good? Or are they being courted by educational companies as one might infer from this statement by our commissioner when asked about the proposal: “Yeah, they will still be required to offer that type of instruction, but they can offer that through VLACS or some other means.”
If the possibility of eliminating valuable courses from our core educational content concerns you, I strongly urge you to contact your representatives and let them know that New Hampshire’s citizens cannot abide by the dilution of our public education system.
(Ursula Askins-Huber has been teaching for 30 years and serves as current past-president on the board for the New Hampshire Association of World Language Teachers. She lives in Plymouth.)