MN Sen. Scott Dibble with winner Denisse Sanchez.

by Joe Nathan

Jack Wickenhauser, De’shawnte Taylor, Vincent Smith Jr. and Denisse Sanchez are eloquent young people.  They recently earned honors in a statewide Minnesota charter public school writing contest that attracted more than 2,200 entries.  Whether you are an educator or parent, I think you’ll learn a lot if you ask youngsters this question at the end of the year.

Wickenhauser, a seventh grader from Cologne Academy, wrote that his best day “was every day since the end of February. “ He started staying “after school by choice” to “help watch the little kids…I mostly look after one kid who has ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) because I know what it’s like.  I try to help him to do the best…When I look in his eyes I see a younger me.”

De’shawnte Taylor  of Excell Academy in Brooklyn Park described the day an essay he wrote for the “D.A.R.E” program won a first place award.  “My mom came to the school to watch our D.A.R.E. graduation.  I felt so happy when I first saw her.  I gave her a huge hug.   It was very special because it showed me that she cared about me.”

Taylor’s essay was a forceful reminder that some of the most important things families can do for their youngsters don’t involve spending money on them…showing up can make a huge difference.

MN Sen. Sandra Pappas with K-2 award-winner.

Another powerful essay by a St. Paul second grader contained a surprise.  Vincent Smith Jr. of Urban Academy  believes his best day in school was when “I got suspended for punching a classmate.  I had not been behaving well in school.  I have been rude.  I have been talking and fighting instead of working.…”

He continued, “Getting suspended got me thinking.  My Dad is in prison but he often calls me.  He is good but he did something bad. I figured I was the same. I am good but I do bad things. Being bad is not cool.  The day I got suspended was my best day because it helped me change.  Now I stay away from trouble…It feels great to be a leader and not a follower.”

Wah Nay Moo, a sixth grader at the College Prep Elementary (CPE) earned top honors in her division.  She described the first day she attended CPE, in September, 2011.  “Prior to this day, I had never attended school in America. I had my first experience learning with materials that were in good shape, unlike my school materials in Thailand that were over 30 years old.”

Finally, Denisse Sanchez, a Minneapolis tenth grader earned first place among high school students.  Formerly, “I hated school and had all F’s.”  Then she and her English class read an essay by James Baldwin.  It reminded her that “Mom and Dad never finished high school and now are living the life of poverty….I want something bigger and better in life…the only way to do that is to get an education.”

Several leading state legislators, including Senate President Sandy Pappas and Senator Scott Dibble welcomed the students to the Capitol.

TCF Foundation co-sponsored the writing contest, and provided cash awards for the best essays. To see humor, honesty, insight and courage, read the winning essays at www.centerforschoolchange.org.

Joe Nathan, formerly a public school teacher and administrator, directs the Center for School Change. Reactions are welcome, and he can be reached at joe@centerforschoolchange.org.

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According to Victor Skinner of EAGNews.org, Ben Chavis is known by a lot of names among members of education establishment — and few of them are flattering. Skinner lists “egomaniac” and “money-grubbing monster” among the more fragrant of epithets. However, being liked is not Chavis’ job. Being an educator is. And at that, he is undeniably successful. Not that it matters to those in charge.

According to Skinner, charter schools founded and run by Chavis are performing impressively especially among the demographic most likely to be failed by traditional public schools: low-income students. Yet, now a number of those charters face closure and no one can quite explain why.

Chavis, a Lumbee Indian and former school superintendent, took over Oakland Unified School District’s chronically failing American Indian Public Charter School (AIPCS) in 2000, and quickly transformed the institution into one of the premier schools in the nation. He also helped established two other schools that joined AIPCS in forming the American Indian Model Schools charter network.

But he became a target for criticism by public school proponents who believe the union model is the only model for education. AIPCS, like most charter schools, employs a non-union teaching staff.

Oakland district officials decided to pull the network’s charter after an investigation into Chavis uncovered that he had improperly benefited from the network to the tune of about $4 million. It isn’t clear why the findings warrant the closure of the three schools rather than the removal of, and possibly a criminal investigation directly into, Chavis.

According to Chavis, the issue isn’t money – at least not the money he has made. Instead, district officials are looking to claw back the funding they annually lose to the American Indian schools.

In an interview with EAGNews, Chavis blamed politics for the predicament the network and its students find themselves in.

It appears that in the attempt to punish Chavis, the district is being extremely unfair to AIPCS students. After all, their list of accomplishments is impressive.

Nearly every AIMS student comes from a low-income family, yet by 2007 AIPCS became the first school in Oakland ever honored with the prestigious National Blue Ribbon Award for academic excellence.

Chavis helped to establish American Indian Public High School the same year, and in 2009 the first class of students graduated. One-hundred percent of graduates went on to four-year colleges, some attending prestigious schools like Cornell, UC Berkeley and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The fact that all this came a mere ten years after the first school in the network was nearly closed because of chronic under-achievement makes the eventual success of the three schools even more astounding.

However, when it comes to clash between a maverick and Oakland’s education establishment, American Indian students appear to be the ones losing out.

The post Politics Threaten Successful Charter Chain in Oakland appeared first on Education News.

by Joe Nathan

BEST Academy “has an impressive record of educating Black boys at the highest levels of achievement, outperforming all other schools in Minneapolis and across the state… BEST academy is a beacon of success and achievement.” — Minneapolis Public Schools Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson

Why has a national group that identifies outstanding district and charter public schools, whether district or charter, just selected BEST Academy in Minneapolis as one of the nation’s most effective schools with African American boys? What are some common characteristics among the schools selected?  Here’s some of what I learned in talking with officials at three of the five schools recently recognized, as well as the national organization’s director.

Ron Walker, director of the National Coalition, is a veteran of 42 years in public education. He’s been an urban teacher and principal, and won numerous awards for his work.

Walker wisely is not interested in debates about which is better, district or chartered public school.  “We focus on our mission: to identify schools that are succeeding, whether district or charter, with young men of color. We want to inspire, strengthen, support and connect school leaders who are dedicated to the social, emotional and academic development of boys and young men of color. “

The national Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color was established with support from the Open Society Institute established by George Soros. Three of the schools the Coalition recognized late last month are district public schools. Two are charter public schools.

Jeffrey Hassan of the African American Leadership Forum and Superintendent Johnson of Minneapolis each wrote letters urging the Coalition to recognize BEST.

Part of Hassan’s letter referred to his grandson, Malik, who attended Best Academy.

“When Malik entered Best Academy in the 5th grade, he was scoring in the 60th percentile in statewide reading and math assessments.   By the time he graduated from Best Academy in the 8th grade, he was scoring in the 90th percentile in both reading and math.   In fact, his 8th grade all boys class scored 100% proficient on the statewide Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment reading test, and scored in the 80th percentile in math -  almost 50% higher than the statewide average.

When Malik entered high school in the 9th grade he tested out of 9th grade math and English, and was placed in advance level classes.”

Hassan volunteered time at BEST.  He explained, “We were able to see first-hand the caring and nurturing environment for the children and the high expectations both educationally and morally that were requested of the children.”

He concluded, “I don’t believe that we can find a better example anywhere  in this country of the dedication, determination and studied approach necessary to teach boys in general, and African-American boys in particular.

In addition to the comments cited above, Minneapolis Public Schools Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson wrote that because of the school’s success, “Minneapolis Public Schools has recently initiated a partnership to replicate the best practices in four ‘Mastery’ schools over the next decade.”

The national Coalition recently honored BEST and four other schools, three of which are district public schools.  One of those district schools is Salk Elementary in Merrillville, Indiana.  Located about 45 miles south of downtown Chicago, Salk enrolls about 650 students, grades K-4.  About 60 percent of the student body is from low-income families, 46 percent are African American, 25 percent are white, 18 percent are Hispanic and the rest, “mixed.”

Principal Kara Bonin, a 22 year veteran of public education, told me that “culture and climate are key” to the progress that the school has shown.  “We model and encourage students to be respectful, be responsible and be safe.”  The school uses videos to help students understand what respectful, responsible behavior looks like.

Test scores are important at the school. The principal noted that 97 percent of students are passing the state’s tests.

But at Salk, “character also is very important.” The school has an extensive community service. Students have, for example raised money for a children’s hospital and carried out food drives.

The school also honors student progress.  Bonin pointed out that “Every Monday we have a school wide meeting where we celebrate student achievements.”

Similar things are happening at another district public school that the Coalition honored, Devonshire Elementary in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Principal Suzanne Gimenez, who has been an educator for more than 40 years ago, was asked to transfer to the school five years ago.  Ninety-six percent of the mostly African American students are from low-income families.

The Coalition noted that the percentage of students at or above grade level on North Carolina’s math test has increased from 41.5% in 2008 to 93.1%.  The percent at or above grade level in reading increased from 43.9 to 64.4.

What accounts for the Devonshire’s continuing improvement over the last five years?

Gimenez pointed to several factors.  These included “celebrating student progress and success,” using an approach developed at Harvard to regularly visit classrooms and provide feedback to faculty, providing “lots of staff development about how to earn students’ respect and build relationships, and using data to refine and improve what’s happening in classrooms.”

The school also offers family a choice within the school.  Their children can either be in a classroom with young men and women, or “gender-based” classrooms (all young men or all young women).”

BEST also is an option for families.  Within a group of buildings in North Minneapolis, families can choose, among others BEST, a K-8 school enrolling about 240 students, “Sister Academy” or Harvest (which enrolls young women and young men).

Latest Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) statistics show that 99.4 percent of BEST’s students are African American, and that 93 percent come from low-income families (Statewide, about 10% of Minnesota’s students are African American and 37 percent come from low-income families).

Latest MDE data also show that 77 percent of BEST students are proficient in math compared to 62 percent statewide.  Seventy-three percent of BEST are proficient in reading compared to 76 percent statewide.

In science, the percentage of BEST students who are proficient has increased from 17.9 percent to 43.3 percent since 2009.  Statewide, latest figures show 50.5 percent of students are proficient in science.  BEST Academy director Eric Mahmoud told me, “we are not satisfied with science.  We have more to do.” He pointed out that the most recent tests show that 56.8 percent of BEST 5th graders are proficient in science, compared to 57.7 statewide.

In words that are strikingly similar to what I heard from the other principals who were honored, Mahmoud also explained that, “probably the most important thing is to believe in the students’ capacity to learn and do great things.”

(Full disclosure – the Center for School Change, where I work, has partnered with BEST as part of a Cargill Foundation funded project over the last several years.)

With national recognition and local requests to expand, it appears that more youngsters will gain from the kind of culture, expectations and respect that Mahmoud and other honored principals see as vital for progress.

Minnesota Commissioner of Education Brenda Cassellius and Minneapolis Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson will join in honoring BEST Academy later this week: Friday, May 10, Heritage Park YMCA 5:15 – 7:30 (Program at 6 PM), 1015 4th Avenue North, Minneapolis, 55405.

Recently more than 600 people gathered in Chicago to honor the three schools mentioned above.  Also honored were Merrillville High School, a district high school in Indiana, and Thurgood Marshall Academy, a charter public school in Washington, D.C.   As the Coalition noted, “These five schools have demonstrated a consistent track record of achievement amongst their male students of color… They know that success is not an accident.”

Congratulations to the schools that were honored, and thanks to the Coalition for recognizing and sharing their success.

Joe Nathan, formerly a public school teacher and administrator, directs the Center for School Change. Reactions are welcome, and he can be reached at joe@centerforschoolchange.org.

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Morgan Smith writes in Texas Weekly that notable political operatives are popping up in typically insular education committee meetings as lawmakers debate the terms of charter school legislation.

Most notable among those new faces has been Texans for Lawsuit Reform co-founder Dick Trabulsi, who is now lobbying for Texans For Education Reform, a newly formed advocacy organization headed by former Senate Education Chairwoman Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, and whose priorities aside from charter school policy also include teacher quality and virtual education initiatives. The group also keeps several other prominent Republican consultants — Anthony Holm, Mike Toomey and Jordan Berry — on payroll.

Texans for Education reform has been a major force in advancing Senate Education Chariman Dan Patrick’s Senate Bill 2, however the education advocacy group Raise Your Hand Texas has been campaigning against provisions that they believe will threaten the well-being of traditional schools which serve the majority of the state’s student population.

Raise Your Hand Texas has become an advocacy heavyweight since its foundation in 2006 by Charles Butt, and the group employs high powered lobbyists. They have already achieved significant transformation of the Houston Republican’s bill.

While Patrick’s bill originally intended to remove the state’s cap on charter contracts, the legislation will now raise the cap from 215 to 305 incrementally with the maximum 305 only reached in 2019. The requirement for school districts to lease or sell underused building for charter school use has also been dropped as has a provision to provide facility funding for charter schools.

Even though the bill has been trimmed by Raise Your Hand Texas, it would still represent the largest school choice reform passed by the Legislature in almost 20 years. There was a similar attempt at reform in 2011 but the current bill is thought to have a much better chance of success than the previous failed prospect.

The bill’s lone remaining dissenter on the Senate floor is Robert Nichols (R-Jacksonville) who issued a statement claiming that he could not support the expansion of charters until the issues of inequitable funding in traditional public schools and overregulation were properly dealt with.

During a recent House Public Education Committee meeting, Chairman Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen, told members he intended to move quickly with the bill, indicating they would take a vote on it during Tuesday’s meeting. Questions about the legislation’s transfer of approval authority from the State Board of Education to the Texas Education Agency dominated the hearing, which also included an unusual appearance by Republican Party of Texas Chairman Steve Munisteri in support of the legislation.

The post Texas Charter School Reform Bill Under Lobby, Debate appeared first on Education News.

A look at recent studies on the impact of charter schools on student achievement levels, along with the Center for Reinventing Public Education meta-study of all previous literature, strongly indicates that charters are providing an invaluable service and that charter student show achievement levels well above their public school peers.

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, in a report titled Public Charter School Success: a Summary of the Current Research on Public Charters’ Effectiveness at Improving Student Achievement, argues that such benefits are going to be simpler to see as the charter sector matures in coming years.

The biggest predictor of charter school success, according to the material summarized in the paper, is how focused a particular charter is on the academic success of its students. However, research is lacking studies that look not only on academics but also on policy, operational and instructional conditions in charters that produce best student outcomes.

A report released in January 2013 looking at charter management organizations (CMOs) and individual charters nationwide found that public charter schools, as they age or replicate into networks, are very likely to continue the patterns and performance set by their early years of operation, and that for most charter schools their ultimate success or failure can be predicted by year three of a school’s life. This analysis found that, on average, students who attended CMOs for four years, have stronger achievement growth than traditional public school students and nonCMO charter students in both reading and math.

The review of current research also includes the 2013 national study of KIPP Public Charter Schools, which found three years of enrollment moved students from 44th percentile of their district to 58th percentile in math; from 46th percentile to 55th percentile in reading; from 36th percentile to 49th in science and from 39th to 49th percentile in social studies.

A report released in February 2013 found that the typical student in a Massachusetts public charter school gains more learning in a year than his or her peer in a district public school, amounting to about one and a half more months of learning per year in reading and two and a half more months of learning per year in math. The study included an analysis of Boston public charter schools, finding that the gains for a typical student in a Boston charter – about 13 percent of the state’s charter students – were even more pronounced, equating to more than twelve months of additional learning per year in reading and thirteen months greater progress in math.

The post Recent Charter School Research Shows Student Improvement appeared first on Education News.

Charter school supporters in Chicago, including parents of the students enrolled in them, are banding together to fight the perception that they’re the bad guy in the ongoing fight surrounding school closures in the city, the Chicago Tribune reports.

The group – called Charter Parents United – was formed in large part to counter the allegations made by the Chicago Teachers Union that they should bear the majority of the blame for the financial crisis gripping the local school system.

Mariana Chavez, one of the group’s organizers, believes that this kind of advocacy has become a necessity in light of CTU attacks. She said that a that a louder voice was needed to make the case to the city and its residents as to why charters deserve funding equity with the traditional public schools.

The catalyst appears to be the city’s plan to close down more than 50 elementary and high school programs because of underenrollment. In the subsequent fight over the plan, teachers and parents of students at effected schools have turned the finger on charters.

In response, district chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett has promised that no school closed this year will be handed over to a charter. CPS officials have also indicated they will place charters under greater academic scrutiny, gradually closing two underperforming charter schools and putting six others on a watch list.

Charters already have backing from several advocacy groups, including Stand for Children, INCS and New Schools for Chicago. Advocacy training from those groups, as well as by charter network operators, got charter parents more involved and eventually led to the formation of Charter Parents United, according to Beth Purvis, CEO of Chicago International Charter School.

Although the group is new, it can already count on a lot of practical and financial support from a lot of heavy hitters in the school reform movement. Included among them is the public relations firm ASGK Public Strategies, founded by President Barack Obama’s chief political guru David Axelrod.

According to Purvis, the group’s chief goal is to provide the public with a more balanced view. Until now, the feeling was that they were hearing too much from charter school opponents and not enough from those who have been helped by their growing presence in the city.

On Wednesday, the board will vote on a number of matters involving charters, including new locations for charter campuses and the addition of seats at existing charter schools. CPS will allow two new charter school operators to come into the district this year.

The fact that half of Wednesday’s board agenda pertains to charter-related business was noted by the CTU.

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Although American teachers unions have largely opposed the spread of charter schools around the country, at least some local branches have taken steps to organize charter schools even in the face of claims from operators that they are able to perform better and deliver better results to students without unionized staff.

One of the most significant such forays is happening in Chicago, where the city’s representatives of the American Federation of Teachers has approached the leaders of one of the largest charter school networks in the country to allow organizing activities on its campuses. Last month the AFT and the United Neighborhood Organization – which runs 13 charters in the city – agreed to an information swap, including turning over to the AFT the contact information of its 400 employees.

Furthermore, the UNO will also allow union organizers onto school campuses, all without taking a position on whether the group supports or opposes unionization.

Backers of charters, which are public schools run by independent groups, say freedom from union contracts enables innovation in areas like staffing and school calendars. Opponents say charters siphon money and students from struggling traditional public schools. Labor leaders say they want to organize charters because teachers there complain about low pay and poor working conditions, and because unionized teachers can negotiate favorable conditions for students, such as small class sizes. But others say the push has as much to do with unions’ declining membership.

Gary Chaison, professor of industrial relations at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, believes that these union approaches to charters are in some way part of a fight to stay relevant – or even just stay alive – in the new educational environment.

And he’s not wrong. Teachers unions have been dropping members year-on-year and the attrition only accelerated once more charter schools, funded by tax dollars but run independently, began opening across the country.

The charter-school drive comes as teacher unions face headwinds on numerous fronts, including layoffs and curbs to collective bargaining in Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan and other states. Last year, the NEA had about three million members, while the AFT had about 848,000 full dues-paying members, both declines of about 3% from 2011, according to data from the Department of Labor.

Nationally, about 12% of the approximately 5,000 charter schools in 2010 were unionized, according to the charter-school alliance. That includes charters in states that require most charter teachers be part of districts’ collective-bargaining policies. By comparison, more than half of all public-school districts in the U.S., including charters, were subject to collective bargaining in the 2007-08 school year, according to U.S. data.

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The school choice fight is going federal as three U.S. Senators are introducing an budget amendment that would “support the expansion and replication” of successful charter schools all over the country. Senator Mitch McConnell, Senator Mary Landrieu and Senator Lamar Alexander want to make it easier for charter operators who are already running a charter school with a proven record of helping students to open others to broaden their network of success.

According to Alexander, the measure would allow more children access to good schooling, all the while giving parents choices about which learning options work best for their children. The 6,000 charters currently operating in the United States are publicly funded but are operated independently of the public school system, giving innovative educators more freedom to try new approaches to improve academic outcomes of their students.

Senator McConnell said, “I am proud to support this measure that prioritizes school choice initiatives that incentivize the expansion of successful charter school models. If our schools are failing, America fails with them. Students, parents and communities in Kentucky and across America must demand schools put students first, produce results, and reward outstanding teachers. One successful approach that has been implemented in 42 states, but not in Kentucky, is the establishment of public charter schools.”

A number of recent studies have shown that a well-run charter school can have a substantial impact on its students’ academic outcomes. The Center for Research on Education Outcomes at California’s Stanford University found that charter schools in Massachusetts – especially ones serving at-risk youths – provide what amounts to an additional 1.5 months of learning in reading and 2.5 months of learning in math over the course of a year.

For Boston schools, the gains were even more impressive. The city’s charter school students receive double the instruction in both math and reading over the course of the academic year compared to their traditional public school peers.

Similar results were shown by KIPP schools when compared against public schools in the same district. KIPP students receive an equivalent of 11 months of instruction in reading by the time they leave middle school compared to students who entered the lottery for spaces in KIPP schools but didn’t win a place.

Senator Landrieu said, “Public charter schools provide quality options for families that are not fortunate enough to live in areas with a robust public education system, or do not have the means to pay for private schools. In Louisiana, we are seeing dramatic gains in educational outcomes with quality public charter schools. Parents who are doing everything they can to give their children every opportunity for success deserve not only a quality choice, but a solution to educating them. Successful charter schools provide that choice and that solution. The time is now to make them a central component of our education strategy all across the country.”

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Although the testimony of charter school students moved state senator Dan Patrick to tears, he agreed to shelve a proposal to lift the limit on charter schools in Texas in favor of one that raises the number more gradually.

After listening to stories of kids who were set on the right academic path thanks to charter schools — who were there to testify in support of the unlimited charter schools — Patrick reiterated his commitment to bringing expanded school choice to the state.

The bill in question was submitted by Senator Leticia Van De Putte, and would have modified the accountability system used by public schools to more specifically identify those that served at-risk youth, especially those who had been dropouts and were least likely to graduate.

Van De Putte said that without such designations, schools that catered to former dropouts might show completion rates that were too low and therefore risk closure.

Bertha Vasquez, an 18-year-old former dropout in Austin who returned to school is now set to graduate this year and hopes to become a nurse. She cried as she detailed being raised by a single mother.

“I want to be the reason that she can smile every day, even though I made her go through a lot,” Vasquez said.
Patrick instructed a committee clerk to hand her a box of tissues — then said he needed them back as tears ran down his own face.

After the conclusion of the testimony, Patrick acknowledged that the session had brought to the surface emotions not only in him but in other members of the committee who he said were all supportive of school choice in Texas. He added that the stories told during the day were a reminder that beyond political infighting there were real people depending on the decisions the legislators make every day.

Patrick supports two charter school proposals, including one that would do away with the cap of 215 currently in place in the state along with creating a special body charged with reviewing and approving the new applications. The other proposal is a fairly classical voucher program that would offer tax credits to companies that donate towards scholarships that can be used towards tuition for private schools of the family’s choice.

During the hearing, though, Patrick also modified his charter proposal to call for 10 new charter licenses issued next school year and 20 new ones given out in 2014-2015, as well as 35 in the 2015-2016 academic year and beyond. He said he still supports an unlimited number of new charters, but understands that such a plan could be opposed by some in the Legislature.

Patrick also altered his bill to give the state the authority to issue five new charter licenses for every one that is revoked from an existing school because of poor performance. The Texas Education Agency says authorities only close about three charters in a typical year.

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Why is an uncontroversial charter school bill currently being held up in New Hampshire legislature? Because of the Representative Dan Eaton, who is hoping to use the measure to score a few points in the upcoming budget negotiations.

In his own words, Representative Eaton – who heads up the powerful House Finance Committee – says that the charter school bill is his “trump card” when it comes to getting concessions from his opponents in the budget reconciliation stage. It isn’t that he doesn’t agree with the measure or opposes it on political or ideological grounds. Oh no. It’s a cudgel with which to beat his House and Senate colleagues, as Jason Bedrick of the Cato Institute points out, and if that happens to have a negative impact on New Hampshire students, so be it.

The bill in question was intended to clear up a misunderstanding about a recent change to the Granite State’s charter school law that the state attorney general’s office understood to mean the opposite of what the legislative authors had intended. The bill, which restored the previous statutory language, had already received a positive recommendation from the NH House Education Committee and passed the full NH House on a voice vote, meaning that the support was so overwhelming that it was unnecessary to count the votes in favor and opposed. What seemed like common sense to most legislators apparently looked like an opportunity for political hostage-taking for Rep. Eaton.

Meanwhile, the fate of five charter schools whose authorizations are being held up due to the issues the charter bill was supposed to resolve remains up in the air. They will now have to wait until June to learn their fate – and therefore risk not being able to open in September as planned.

Everyone is familiar with the fact that in the halls of power, nothing gets done without compromise. It is fully expected that two houses of the New Hampshire legislature will be squaring off against each other come this summer over the two different versions of the budget bill. Being in position to control something the other side wants will definitely help in the process.

Yet even by those standards, Eaton goes rather too far – by laying aside his ideological views, and the fates of students for whom education is not a political staring contest – to give himself a leg up.

Jason Bedrick, a former New Hampshire lawmaker himself, both takes Eaton to task and hastens to reassure his readers that not all of the state’s elective representatives consider it morally justifiable to play political football with children’s education.

Most of the legislators I encountered in both parties were principled and completely dedicated to making New Hampshire an even better place to live. Unfortunately, these sort of legislative shenanigans leave a stain on the august institution. Let us hope that sunlight proves to be a sufficient disinfectant.

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