Councilor To NH Gov: Your Education Commissioner Should Resign

CONCORD, NH — In a potential preview of the 2020 gubernatorial campaign in New Hampshire, Concord's executive councilor has called on the governor to request the resignation of the commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Education, saying he is "intent to destroy public education" in the state while also raising other concerns inside of the department.

Andru Volinsky, who represents Executive Council District 2 and is running to be the Democrat's nominee for governor next year, submitted the letter to Gov. Chris Sununu, R-NH, at the board's meeting Wednesday. In it, Volinsky called on the governor to "request the immediate resignation" of Frank Edelblut, the education department's commissioner, for championing a federal grant that was "out of scale" with what other states received and was "designed to double" the state's charter school population.

"(Edelblut) sought out the grant … without public hearings or input and while hiding the devastating impact that this grant would have had on our state's education system had the Legislature's Fiscal Committee and the Executive Council accepted it," Volinsky said. "The $46 million grant would have required the state to match these funds with $50 to $100 million in state general funds and would likely have raised property taxes by an additional $60-$120 million."

Volinsky called the charter school grant request Edelblut's "third overt attempt" to "undermine public education" in the state, noting Edelblut supported SB 193, a school voucher program, and undermined local control via the Learn Everywhere program, which grants credits for high school students via out-of-school education programs without obtaining authority from local school boards and districts first. Instead, Volinsky said, the state needs "an education advocate" as commissioner who will improve education but not at the expense of 165,000 public school students.

Volinsky, who represents communities from Keene to Concord to the Maine border, was also critical of Edelblut's leadership, stating there was "a great deal of turnover" in the department and the vocational rehabilitation program now had "its first waiting list as a result of Mr. Edelblut's decisions."

In an email, Grant Bosse, the communications director for the New Hampshire Department of Education, said the department "will not be commenting on a campaign issue."

Sununu also didn't offer comment about the letter.

However, Benjamin Vihstadt, the governor's communications director, said Volinsky was "confused," since charter schools in the Granite State are public schools.

"These political antics are nothing more than a PR stunt by an individual desperate to stay relevant," Vihstadt said.

Dan Feltes, another 2020 candidate, did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Critics of the charter school grant request, which was rejected along party lines, point to two unknowns: the cost to non-charter schools and the long-term cost of funding charter schools.

School districts receive around $3,600 per student from the state with charter schools receiving about double that amount. However, the average per pupil cost in New Hampshire is just shy of $16,000. While there are built-in costs for every school district, depending on where the new charter schools are located, how they are created, and how many students shift, the cost might not be as high as feared. Children shifting to a charter school could lower the cost to the district on a per-pupil level that is five times higher than the state grant.

Despite the rejection of the grant, Edelblut has vowed to continue to fight for it because he believes there were few opportunities for at-risk students who need more options.

Volinsky comments come during a point of high turnover in the department, including the departure last week of Heather Gage, the director of the Division of Learner Support, as well as more than two dozen other employees during Edelblut's time with the department.

Problems with NH Vocational Rehabilitation, a bureau within the department, however, began before Edelblut was appointed to the position.

After becoming commissioner, Edelblut changed the department's auditing process from annual to quarterly. During one of the first quarterly audits, it was discovered that the vocational rehab bureau would run deficit by the end of the fiscal year, because millions of dollars of surpluses were overspent beginning as early as 2012. An "order of selection" plan was created to prioritize individuals in the state with the most significant disabilities first. After about a year, the bureau had cleared its waitlist for the most severe cases.

Had Edelblut not moved the department to quarterly audits instead of annual audits, the overspending might not have been immediately discovered – which would have been much more disruptive including close to 20 people losing their jobs as well as diminished services.

Both Edelblut and Sununu were also able to line up a $1.23 million federal support grant to assist in ensuring that 860 Project IMPACCT students would be assisted during the restructuring of the bureau. In was the first time in the history of the program that extra money was requested of the federal government.

ALSO READ:

• NH’s Charter Schools And The Mudslinging Politics To Come
• Feltes Accuses Sununu Of Lying About Role In Normandeau Ouster
• As Expected, Executive Councilor Announces Run For Governor In NH
• State Senator Launches Bid To Become NH's Next Governor
• Will 2020 Dem Governor Primary Be Battle Of The Concord Lawyers?
• Sununu Makes It Official: He's Running For Re-Election In 2020

Editor's note: I was director of communications for the New Hampshire Department of Education between April 13, 2018, and April 16, 2019.

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