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Friday, February 5, 2021

New Hampshire: “Historic” Turnout Against Proposed Universal Voucher Plan | Diane Ravitch's blog

New Hampshire: “Historic” Turnout Against Proposed Universal Voucher Plan | Diane Ravitch's blog
New Hampshire: “Historic” Turnout Against Proposed Universal Voucher Plan



New Hampshire has a Republican Governor, Chris Sununu, who appointed the state Commissioner of Education, Frank Edelblut. The commissioner home-schooled his children. He hates public schools and would like to defund them. If you thought Betsy DeVos was bad because of her zeal for privatization, Edelblut is far worse.

At the first public hearing about Edelblut’s radical voucher plan, public turnout was huge and onerwhelmingly opposed to the destruction of public schools.

Members of the public registered resounding opposition to HB 20, a bill that would create a universal school voucher program, at a public hearing on Tuesday afternoon. Due to the unprecedented and historic turnout, with 85% of it in opposition, the House Education Committee recessed and will continue the hearing on Thursday, Feb. 11, to hear from all 131 people who had signed up to speak at the virtual hearing, and they are accepting additional registrations to testify for those who have not signed up already. 

About 30 people — including parents, educators, lawmakers, experts, and one student — testified over the course of four hours, and another 3,800 signed on to CONTINUE READING: New Hampshire: “Historic” Turnout Against Proposed Universal Voucher Plan | Diane Ravitch's blog