Bruce MacMahon for State Representative
Rockingham District 10 - Brentwood
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Help
me work to keep New Hampshire prosperous and free by bringing back common
sense ideas and solutions that work in the best interest of The People. |
Education (click
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I hold firm the belief
that our children are best served when their educational choices are
controlled at the local level, with parents and teachers calling the shots, and
not state bureaucrats or special interest groups from Washington, who have
proven themselves, time and time again, to be far more interested in
enriching their own coffers and those of their hip-pocket politicians, than
they are in enriching our children’s lives. As a parent of two
school-aged children, I understand as well as anyone the value of a good
education, and have an immense appreciation for the quality of our local
schools and the teachers who give so much of themselves to help better our
children’s futures. I also have a deep respect and admiration for those
parents who have made the decision to educate their children at home. Providing our children
with the tools they’ll need to be happy, well adjusted, and productive
members of society is one of the most important items in a parent’s job
description. A parent’s right to choose how best to provide his or her child
with these tools is one of the most personal and heart-felt decisions a
parent can make, and it is one that must be recognized and protected at the
local, state, and federal levels. There has been a lot of
talk in Concord in recent years concerning state funding of education. We are
being told by the “experts” that more must be done by the state to guarantee
a quality education for all of New Hampshire’s children, as if increasing
spending will magically produce a better educated body of students. If that were the case -
if pouring more tax dollars into the pool of public education funding were
truly the solution - we would no longer be discussing this issue - not here,
not in Massachusetts, not in any of the fifty states. No matter how much we
spend on public education, whether at the state or federal level, it will
never be “enough”. When a group of people
tries to convince you that the only solution to a problem is to spend
more money (and to “necessarily” raise taxes and fees to pay for it), odds
are you’re being taken for a ride, and a costly one at that. I’ve heard the argument
that we “need” an income tax here in New Hampshire to better fund public
education in the towns that are taking in less in property tax revenue than
the wealthier towns in the state. This again falls back to
the old argument that more money translates directly to a better education,
and makes as much sense as trying to improve education by outlawing bad
grades. The quality of a child’s education is not contingent on the amount of
money spent, but rather the commitment and participation of the students,
their parents, and their communities. You could send a student
to the most expensive, most highly esteemed private school in the country,
but if he doesn’t want to learn, and his parents don’t take an active
role in his education, he will not receive a “quality education”, no matter
how much money is allocated toward that well-intentioned goal. The reality is there
will always be disparity, or “unfairness” in the world. In every city or
town, there will be some residents who are better off than their neighbors.
In every state, you will find some communities more affluent than others.
Likewise, across the country, you will find broader examples of economic
disparity among the states. This is not a bug in the
system that needs to be “fixed” by politicians and special interest groups,
who purport to know “what’s best” for everyone, but rather a foreseeable
by-product of economic freedom and the people’s right to choose to live their
lives as they see fit. Now, rather than try to make things “fair” by taking
resources away from the successful cities and towns in New Hampshire, we need
to take a look at what these towns did that allowed them to develop and
succeed in the ways they have, and apply those lessons elsewhere. Here’s a quick exercise
for you: Show me one state
with a higher overall state and local per capita tax burden than New
Hampshire, wherein the teachers' unions and their Democrat allies in the
state legislature have issued a proclamation, of any kind, stating that
public education in that state is, in fact, adequately funded and that no
additional tax revenues, or other increases to that state’s education budget
would be requested or forthcoming. Hint: It won’t happen. Ever. Public education in
America (and in New Hampshire) will never be “adequately” funded, if we
continue to allow the term “adequate” to be defined by those individuals who
have the most to gain, both financially and politically, by the appropriation
(and misappropriation) of our tax dollars. It’s not by accident
that New Hampshire has some of the best public schools in the country. In
order to keep it that way, all efforts should be made to keep our children’s
education under the control of the parents and educators in the individual
cities and towns across the state, and away from the politically motivated bureaucrats
in Concord and beyond. ~ Bruce |
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