A school voucher program will hurt public schools, increase costs and leave behind the poor and marginalized.
I am a proud graduate of public school in New Hampshire. I’m also a person of faith in the Christian tradition. What state Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut and the “Free Staters” are doing to public education is damaging to our public schools and a shame to the Christian faith. I know because I used to homeschool my children for similar reasons and was a signatory to the Free State Project.
The school voucher program is already impacting our area. Lionheart Academy is coming to Peterborough under the banner of “school choice.” They deny that they are a religious institution, but their curriculum comes from Hillsdale College, which is an explicitly Christian far-right institution and spreads a revisionist history featured in the now-defunct 1776 Commission. These schools are estimated to increase town costs in New Hampshire by $70 million and the voucher program is already $8 million over budget. This will only benefit these religious institutions, with no benefit to the common good, and at increased cost over what is already abysmal funding of education in this state.
This program will increase taxes, siphon money from public education, further disadvantage marginalized and poor communities and contribute to the whitewashing of our children’s education. It is a direct enemy to the common good and the rich history of the work for justice and human flourishing in the Christian tradition. It is more in keeping with power-hungry Christian nationalists that have sacrificed their faith tradition to individualism, power, racism and bigotry. Please contact your local representatives to vote down these laws, seek removal of Edelblut and support our public schools.
Justin Charles
Rindge