Leonard Witt: Using tax dollars to feed rich kids brick oven pizzas

To The Daily Sun,

Mark McConkey, marching in Madison’s Old Home Week parade, held a placard announcing his GOP state senate candidacy. As he walked, he threw penny candy to kids along the route. It was a nice gesture.

It’s in contrast to his vote, illustrated by this InDepthNH.org headline: “NH House Kills Bills to Help … Hungry Youth.” Carroll County Republican state representatives, including McConkey, voted to kill a bill to feed hungry children. It lost by one vote; any one of them could have produced a different outcome.

Some 37,000 students from low income families would have qualified for one free school meal daily, either lunch or breakfast. The funding would have come from the same pool of your tax money that is currently funding the state’s school voucher program.

A pool with enough tax dollars that these same GOP members, who voted against providing nutritious meals to low income children, want to tap it for $5,000 vouchers for the rich to offset the cost of sending their children to exclusive private schools.

Instead of providing low income families a typical school lunch of a turkey sandwich, veggies and fruit, they are OK with money to the wealthy. A Carroll County $40,000-a-year private school promotes its “Wood-fired Brick Oven for pizzas, breads, roasts, frittatas, and other delicious fare.” Another $60,000 tuition NH private school offers 5,000 different menu choices over the year.

GOP state house education committee members Mike Belcher (R-Wakefield), Katy Peternel (R-Wolfeboro) and Glenn Cordelli (R-Tuftonboro) and state senate candidate McConkey are NH’s most powerful feed the rich advocates.

Want your taxes spent on wood-fired pizzas for rich kids, vote Republican. Want to improve educational outcomes for children in need of a decent meal, vote for Democrats in November.

Leonard Witt

Sandwich