Mark Fernald
The founders of the state of New Hampshire believed education to be so important, they wrote it into our constitution in 1784:
“Knowledge and learning … being essential to the preservation of a free government … it shall be the duty of the legislators … to cherish the public schools.”
Four years earlier, John Adams had written similar language in the Massachusetts constitution.
Adams believed education was so important that “no expense for this purpose would be thought extravagant.”
He also wrote: “The Whole People must take upon themselves the Education of the Whole People and must be willing to bear the expences of it. There should not be a district one Mile Square without a school in it, not founded by a Charitable individual but maintained at the expence of the People themselves.”
John Adams and the founders of New Hampshire understood that, in order for us to be self-governing people — a radical proposition in 1784 — the entire population has to be educated, so that we can be informed about the issues of the day, question candidates and make choices about our future.
Our public schools live up to this ideal.
All school-aged children are welcome, and all receive the same services, regardless of race, creed or economic status. School buses ensure that all children are able to get to school.
The voucher system advocated by New Hampshire Republicans is a dagger aimed at the heart of public education — and therefore, at the heart of our democracy — by creating a system that disfavors our public schools.
The public schools are subject to minimum standards set by the state; they must provide special education services; they must accept all comers; they are free; and they administer standardized tests each year in grades 3 through 8.
Schools taking the voucher money have no such requirements. There are no rules, no accountability, and they are free to reject students who are difficult or expensive to educate.
Vouchers are touted as a way for nonwealthy children to attend private school, but the lion’s share of voucher money is going to families who were already sending their children to private school.
With new money being offered for private school education, you can be sure the market will respond. New private schools will open, and existing private schools will expand to take advantage of the free state money.
And therein lies the danger. Public school enrollment will decline, as middle-class families choose the voucher money. As families leave the public schools, support will dwindle at the polls and school budgets will be cut, causing more middle-class families to leave the public schools.
Over time, vouchers will create a two-tiered system of education. Poorly funded public schools will serve a separate and unequal class of students who cannot afford to pay the portion of private school tuition not covered by the voucher, or who need special education services, or who have been rejected by private schools.
The voucher system leads us to a Darwinian outcome, where those with talent and money are given a subsidy to go to private school, while those who are less fortunate get second class.
Republicans say that competition among schools is a good thing. Competition can be a good thing, but only if the playing field is fair, and everyone plays by the same rules.
The Republican voucher plan creates a “playing field” with a pitch approximately equal to the deck of the Titanic as it slipped below the waves.
Fair competition would require any school taking voucher money to meet the minimum standards for public schools, provide special education services, administer the same standardized tests as public schools and accept all applicants in a nonselective lottery system.
With a level playing field, we would realize the extraordinary role our public schools play in what John Adams called the “Education of the Whole People,” because we would find very few private schools willing to take the voucher money if they have to play by the same rules as public schools.
The amount of money flowing to voucher schools would nearly disappear — and our schools would continue to achieve John Adams’ vision of a public school system that educates all children, regardless of race, creed or economic circumstances.
Mark Fernald is a former state senator, and a former Democratic candidate for governor. He can be reached at mark@markfernald.com.
