Opinion: Connecting the dots of party platforms
Published: 10-07-2024 7:00 AM |
Jean Lewandowski is a retired special needs teacher. She lives in Nashua.
The NH Constitution Part 2, Article 83 reads in part, “Knowledge and learning, generally diffused through a community, being essential to the preservation of a free government; and spreading the opportunities and advantages of education through the various parts of the country, being highly conducive to promote this end; it shall be the duty of the legislators and magistrates, in all future periods of this government, to cherish the interest of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries and public schools to …to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and general benevolence, public and private charity, industry and economy, honesty and punctuality, sincerity, sobriety, and all social affections, and generous sentiments, among the people: Provided, nevertheless, that no money raised by taxation shall ever be granted or applied for the use of the schools or institutions of any religious sect or denomination.”
What does this have to do with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and allow states to deny people reproductive freedom? Recently, 31 Republican New Hampshire state legislators (listed below) did voters the favor of drawing a blazing neon line connecting the dots between their opposition to funding public education and to the Trump Supreme Court. They signed onto an amicus (friend of the court) brief supporting a lawsuit currently before the NH Supreme Court that would overturn the 1993 and 1997 Claremont decisions, which confirmed that funding public education is a duty of the state.
The lawsuit itself is a familiar regurgitation of convoluted arguments amounting to an assertion that Article 83 doesn’t really mean what it says. But the amicus brief is something quite new. It argues that the NH Supreme Court should use the same reasoning to defund public education as the U.S. Supreme Court did in the Dobbs decision. It is a detailed permission structure for ignoring legal precedent and constitutional language to undermine established civil rights and public institutions. (See 2024-09-04-ConVal-Memorandum-of-Legislative-Amici.pdf (fairfundingnh.org)
This isn’t a tangential argument: 11 of the brief’s 16 pages compare Claremont to Dobbs, much of it using direct quotes from Chief Justice Alito’s majority decision. In its summation, the brief adds pathos, calling for the Court to “…terminate the agonies to which it has condemned lower court judges and restore itself to constitutional legitimacy by following the example of the U.S. Supreme Court in parallel circumstances in Dobbs, by overruling Claremont I and Claremont II.”
In plain language, “They did it to reproductive rights, so you can do it public education.” The brief is so outrageous that the plaintiffs in the suit, those seeking to overturn the Claremont rulings, are asking that it be expunged from the official record.
They’re a little late; we clearly see that there’s no daylight between the state and national GOP leadership. In fact, the state platform is essentially a digest of Project 2025’s radical agenda. Among its education proposals: expand education tax credits and support universal education freedom accounts (vouchers); support spending tax dollars on religious education; support market forces (privatization); control curricula and programs from Concord; reduce “government interference.”
While the GOP plan would continue to skim tens of millions of our tax dollars from public education and shield private and home schools from scrutiny and fiscal and educational oversight, the NH Democratic platform supports the constitutional promise to cherish public education. It calls for equitable funding and robust public oversight; an end to the explicitly prohibited transfer of our tax dollars to religious institutions; and an end to politically-motivated attacks on school personnel and boards.
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The amicus brief opens a window onto how the NH GOP would use the Trump Supreme Court’s example to destroy our cherished public institutions, including education. We can stop this project in November by reasserting the fact that as voters, we are the government. We elect the school boards, town boards, and state leaders who create and implement education policy. We require open meetings and open records so we can provide input, oversight, and accountability.
There are capable, civic-minded candidates ready to replace anti-education officials, starting at the top. The governor appoints the Commissioner of Education, and the Executive Council confirms appointments. Our state representatives and senators set policy and fund programs. Every legislative seat is open. Vote blue.
The signatories: Senators Tim Lang, Sanbornton and Howard Pearl, Loudon; Representatives Jason Osborne, Auburn; Fred Doucette, Salem; Jim Kofalt, Wilton; Joe Sweeney, Salem; Julia Harvey-Bolia, Tilton; Rick Ladd, Haverhill; Ken Weyler, Kingston; Len Turcotte, Barrington; William Infantine, Manchester; Wayne MacDonald, Londonderry; Carol McGuire, Epsom; Andrew Renzullo, Hudson; Michael Vose, Epping; Thomas Walsh, Hooksett; Gregory Hill, Northfield; Keith Ammon, New Boston; Harry Bean, Gilford; Jose Cambrils, Loudon; Glenn Cordelli, Tuftonboro; Jess Edwards, Auburn; Keith Erf, Weare; Dan McGuire, Epsom; Kristine Perez, Londonderry; Katy Peternel, Merrimack; Alvin See, Loudon; John Sellers, Bristol; Vanessa Sheehan, Milford; Chris True, Sandown; and Scott Wallace, Danville.