Kucinich: New Hampshire Schools Need Change

[AnAmerican]

Democratic Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich today said that schools in New Hampshire have suffered under the Bush Administration and serious change is needed. Kucinich said the "No Child Left Behind Act" has been "underfunded and selectively implemented."

"New Hampshire teachers receive the 49th lowest salaries in the country," Kucinich said, "and the Bush Administration's implementation of the 'No Child Left Behind Act' is exacerbating the problem. A study by the New Hampshire School Administrators Association estimated that the Bush Administration's plan will give New Hampshire schools only $77 for every student, while costing the state $575 per student to implement.

"This is not the way to leave no child behind. The Bush Administration has underfunded its own school reform program and aggressively implemented the half of it related to standards and penalties, while virtually ignoring the half of this law that promised to provide every school with a sufficient number of highly qualified teachers. To make matters worse, the Bush Administration has cut in New Hampshire alone: $800,000 for Pell Grant funding for lower income college students, $1.1 million for educating children in rural schools, $400,000 for teacher quality training grants, and $230,000 for safe and drug free schools grants.

"We need a whole new approach, one that we can only afford if we repeal the tax cuts to the extremely wealthy, close the tax loopholes for corporations, end the costly occupation of Iraq, and cut the bloated Pentagon budget. If we really want to leave no child behind, we need to put our money where our motto is."

http://kucinich.us/pressreleases/pr_012304c.php

[maxanne]

1. Kucinich is right

but No Child Left Behind is only a small part of the problem. Our regressive tax structure is the primary issue. We have no state income tax, and no sales tax - so education is funded by our property tax - which is one of the highest in the nation. We're damned proud of our "tax free" status, too.