Bruce Jenket: Questioning calculation of cost to education a NH student

To The Daily Sun, 

Marcia Hayward’s letter on Jan. 29, confused me so I will ask that she provide more details. I did some research and don’t know if her letter was intentionally misleading but her opening statement that “$4,100 was not enough to educate a child” triggered my high “misinformation” alarm. That is because I have calculated the cost of educating a single student in Moultonborough many times and it’s currently at $34,800/year.

According to the “Public School Review” website tinyurl.com/mry6h4cw NH has the highest per student cost in the nation at $31,467. The national average is $16,798. So, where did the $4,100 come from?

I’ll say up front that the cost of educating our youth is not high on my list of priorities but it’s just another issue that is bleeding the American taxpayer dry. To my limited knowledge, education is a town issue, not a state issue in NH. If towns are subsidized by the state maybe Marcia can enlighten me.

I attend the Moultonborough Town Meeting every year and vote on a school budget and on a town administrative budget. Last year the proposed school budget was $17.4 million which was up $1.5 million (9.49%) from the previous year's $15.89 million budget. tinyurl.com/2w62cs8s. By comparison, the Moultonborough town operating budget tinyurl.com/2s4tk6v2 is only $10.7 million.

Let me be clear, this letter is not to address the Moultonborough school budget it’s to get clarification from Marcia on what the point of her letter was. Her closing statement, “All Granite State students have a constitutional right to a robust education,” is a movement I support. How is more money or additional legislation is going to fix it when NH spends more per student than the other 49 states? I would appreciate an explanation from Ms. Hayward.

Bruce Jenket

Moultonborough