Diana Sack: No reliable price tag on Education Freedom Accounts

To The Daily Sun,

Although “Education Freedom Accounts” may be a done deal between the New Hampshire Legislature and the governor, we should not be misled about their impact on both state finances and public education.

This proposed program to use taxpayer funds for private education has passed the legislature without any credible estimate of how much it could cost state and local governments. There is no official Legislative Budget Office fiscal note attached to the bill. This omission leaves the bill’s proponents free to cherry-pick from a wide array of figures such as appeared in The Daily Sun’s Letters on Tuesday (“Education Freedom Accounts won’t bankrupt public schools”). At best they are guesses.

My concern stems from 40 years of experience with Laconia budget discussions, school district committees, and parent conferences at Pleasant Street School, Memorial Middle School, and Laconia High School. I have seen programs disappear, programs dependent on donations and yard sales, and programs held in supply closets. There is no fat in these budgets.

If we are willing to pay public money for more choices in education, we should keep it in public schools where the many can benefit, rather than the select few.

Diana Sack

Laconia