Are New Hampshire Republicans for local control of public schools or not? It is an open question.
Last week, Senate Republicans passed Senate Bill 195, which mandates that every school in New Hampshire teach cursive and multiplication tables. Schools ought to teach those subjects, but a legislative mandate that they do so can hardly be called “local control.”
On Wednesday, House Republicans passed House Bill 276, which would allow local districts to opt out of Common Core standards. “House Republicans will always support greater local control of education curriculum and standards,” Rep. Rick Ladd, R-Haverhill, boasted in a press release.
If so, then they will kill Senate Bill 195 and let local school districts decide for themselves whether to teach cursive and multiplication tables.
Ladd went on to say that the Common Core bill “is truly an effort to preserve local control from the ever-encroaching Federal Department of Education’s controlling footprint. Parents and local school boards should be empowered to make decisions to best suit the needs of their students and children.”
His reference to the federal government raises an important question. Is it the position of the state Republican Party that parents and local school boards should be free from all mandates, or just those that originate in Washington?