Bobby Jindal and the ACLU are having a fight in these opinion pages. Guess whose side I’m going to take? I agree with Gov. Jindal and we both agree with the Washington Post which said “What shouldn’t get forgotten in this seemingly endless fight are the people with the most at stake: parents who simply want what’s best for their children.” The issue which unites me and the Washington Post is the lawsuit over the state’s much admired school choice scholarship program.
https://jbartlett.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_white_v1_360x70.png00Charles M. Arlinghaushttps://jbartlett.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_white_v1_360x70.pngCharles M. Arlinghaus2014-04-24 16:49:542018-08-28 18:39:09The Washington Post is Right and the ACLU is Wrong
The survey found that 97 percent of parents of scholarship recipients are satisfied with their chosen private or home schools, 68 percent noticed measurable academic improvement since receiving the scholarship, and 74 percent of private school parents reported that they would have been unable to afford tuition without the scholarship. These findings are consistent with previous research and demonstrate once again the promise of educational choice programs.
00Joshua Elliott-Traficantehttps://jbartlett.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_white_v1_360x70.pngJoshua Elliott-Traficante2014-04-22 18:01:212018-08-28 06:03:06Live Free and Learn: A Case Study of NH’s Scholarship Tax Credit Program
Proposals at the state and national level to increase the minimum wage will hurt the job market, decrease the number of jobs available, and hurt the people advocates are trying to help. Specifically, the higher wage will make it more expensive to hire entry level workers and reduce opportunities for lower skill workers trying to build job experience.
00Charles M. Arlinghaushttps://jbartlett.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_white_v1_360x70.pngCharles M. Arlinghaus2014-04-22 16:36:242018-08-28 18:40:26Minimum Wage Hike Will Hurt Entry Level Workers Most
New Hampshire is complacent. As a state we seem to have accepted stagnation as a way of life and are just trying to figure out how to adapt to it. The vision of New Hampshire as an island of prosperity is receding as policymakers increasingly decide they must adopt rather than fight economic mediocrity.
00Charles M. Arlinghaushttps://jbartlett.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_white_v1_360x70.pngCharles M. Arlinghaus2014-04-22 01:41:572018-08-28 18:40:43Are We Doomed to Be a Stagnant State?
A Superior Court ruling just created a $400 million hole in the state’s budget. A fake tax little understood by most policymakers and almost unknown to the public started as a scam to leverage more money from the federal government, turned into a clearly unconstitutional real tax, and has created New Hampshire’s own fiscal cliff.
00Charles M. Arlinghaushttps://jbartlett.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_white_v1_360x70.pngCharles M. Arlinghaus2014-04-21 14:23:312018-08-28 18:40:58The State Budget Just Developed a $400 million hole
Most of us would not want to be judged for the rest of our lives based on what we did when we were 17 years-old. Unfortunately, this is the reality for too many youngsters in New Hampshire since the state lowered the maximum age of juvenile court jurisdiction from 18 to 17 in 1996.
https://jbartlett.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_white_v1_360x70.png00Joshua Elliott-Traficantehttps://jbartlett.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_white_v1_360x70.pngJoshua Elliott-Traficante2014-04-14 10:44:202018-08-28 18:41:37New Hampshire Ripe for Raising the Age
New Hampshire adopted the Medicaid Enhancement Tax as a means to leverage federal matching funds without imposing any real tax liability on state hospitals. After two decades, budget writers finally ended the practice of MediScam by turning this phantom tax into a real one
I hesitate to say this but Washington should be more like Concord. Discussions about federal budget and policy changes take place in a language completely divorced from reality and designed quite purposefully to keep anyone from figuring out what is going on. Language and culture matter. The language of Washington creates a culture designed to make us all cynical and apathetic.
00Charles M. Arlinghaushttps://jbartlett.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_white_v1_360x70.pngCharles M. Arlinghaus2014-04-10 16:03:512018-08-28 06:18:40The Language of the Budget is Designed to Destroy Debate
When it costs more to heat your house, your electricity is cheaper. Actually there isn’t a direct correlation between the two but cold weather – and we’ve had plenty of it – drives both dynamics. One utility-owned power plant in New Hampshire is something of a political football but is currently saving ratepayers well over $100 million this year.
00Charles M. Arlinghaushttps://jbartlett.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_white_v1_360x70.pngCharles M. Arlinghaus2014-04-07 16:47:492018-08-28 18:41:54For now, PSNH’s Bow plant saves ratepayers millions
Wilkins Micawber had figured out the central organizing fact of modern life when he suggested to young David Copperfield, “Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery. The blossom is blighted, the leaf is withered, the God of day goes down upon the weary scene, and – and in short you are for ever floored.”
00Charles M. Arlinghaushttps://jbartlett.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_white_v1_360x70.pngCharles M. Arlinghaus2014-03-27 15:24:432018-08-28 18:42:07If only every legislator read Charles Dickens
The Washington Post is Right and the ACLU is Wrong
EDUCATIONBobby Jindal and the ACLU are having a fight in these opinion pages. Guess whose side I’m going to take? I agree with Gov. Jindal and we both agree with the Washington Post which said “What shouldn’t get forgotten in this seemingly endless fight are the people with the most at stake: parents who simply want what’s best for their children.” The issue which unites me and the Washington Post is the lawsuit over the state’s much admired school choice scholarship program.
Live Free and Learn: A Case Study of NH’s Scholarship Tax Credit Program
EDUCATIONThe survey found that 97 percent of parents of scholarship recipients are satisfied with their chosen private or home schools, 68 percent noticed measurable academic improvement since receiving the scholarship, and 74 percent of private school parents reported that they would have been unable to afford tuition without the scholarship. These findings are consistent with previous research and demonstrate once again the promise of educational choice programs.
Minimum Wage Hike Will Hurt Entry Level Workers Most
BETTER GOVERNMENT, BUDGETProposals at the state and national level to increase the minimum wage will hurt the job market, decrease the number of jobs available, and hurt the people advocates are trying to help. Specifically, the higher wage will make it more expensive to hire entry level workers and reduce opportunities for lower skill workers trying to build job experience.
Are We Doomed to Be a Stagnant State?
BETTER GOVERNMENTNew Hampshire is complacent. As a state we seem to have accepted stagnation as a way of life and are just trying to figure out how to adapt to it. The vision of New Hampshire as an island of prosperity is receding as policymakers increasingly decide they must adopt rather than fight economic mediocrity.
The State Budget Just Developed a $400 million hole
BUDGETA Superior Court ruling just created a $400 million hole in the state’s budget. A fake tax little understood by most policymakers and almost unknown to the public started as a scam to leverage more money from the federal government, turned into a clearly unconstitutional real tax, and has created New Hampshire’s own fiscal cliff.
New Hampshire Ripe for Raising the Age
REGULATIONMost of us would not want to be judged for the rest of our lives based on what we did when we were 17 years-old. Unfortunately, this is the reality for too many youngsters in New Hampshire since the state lowered the maximum age of juvenile court jurisdiction from 18 to 17 in 1996.
Meet the MET
BUDGETNew Hampshire adopted the Medicaid Enhancement Tax as a means to leverage federal matching funds without imposing any real tax liability on state hospitals. After two decades, budget writers finally ended the practice of MediScam by turning this phantom tax into a real one
The Language of the Budget is Designed to Destroy Debate
BUDGETI hesitate to say this but Washington should be more like Concord. Discussions about federal budget and policy changes take place in a language completely divorced from reality and designed quite purposefully to keep anyone from figuring out what is going on. Language and culture matter. The language of Washington creates a culture designed to make us all cynical and apathetic.
For now, PSNH’s Bow plant saves ratepayers millions
ENERGYWhen it costs more to heat your house, your electricity is cheaper. Actually there isn’t a direct correlation between the two but cold weather – and we’ve had plenty of it – drives both dynamics. One utility-owned power plant in New Hampshire is something of a political football but is currently saving ratepayers well over $100 million this year.
If only every legislator read Charles Dickens
BETTER GOVERNMENTWilkins Micawber had figured out the central organizing fact of modern life when he suggested to young David Copperfield, “Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery. The blossom is blighted, the leaf is withered, the God of day goes down upon the weary scene, and – and in short you are for ever floored.”