While everyone is paying attention to the presidential primary on Tuesday, there is another important vote taking place in New Hampshire on Wednesday too.  On Wednesday, February 10th, the Executive Council will vote on three State Board of Education members.

Governor Hassan is asking that the three former board members be reappointed:
Helen Honorow, Nashua, District 5
Greg Odell, Dalton, District 1
Cindy Chagnon, Bedford, At-Large

We know these board members have shown their support for Common Core.

The five executive councilors have an opportunity to change this and appoint new board members who will give the academic standards the consideration they deserve.

1) The current board hasn’t reached out to parents or teachers who want better standards.
2) They are facilitating the federal reforms in education without consideration for those who have been publicly opposed Common Core.
3) Common Core “allows” states to improve upon the standards by 15% and yet that hasn’t been done.
4) Current Board members do not discuss or debate issues; they simply approve the Department of Education’s agenda.
5) Current Board members are not concerned about the downshifting of cost of federal reforms onto our districts.
6) Current Board members are hostile to charter schools.

Last week, parents asked Ann Marie Banfield and Michael Balboni to serve on the board and represent their views.  Ann Marie Banfield is a regular contributor to the Girard blog and currently volunteers for Cornerstone Policy Research as their Education Liaison.  Michael Balboni, former Chairman of the House Education Committee, also agreed to serve if appointed by the Councilors.

There was an effort to e-mail and call the Executive Councilors to request that two board members be replaced.  Michael Balboni has a proven record serving as a State Representative as someone willing to listen to parents and support legislation that improves public education.  Ann Marie Banfield has a proven record for standing up for parental rights, academic excellence and literacy in education.

We are now hearing that the Republicans serving on the Council may not want to fight Governor Hassan on her appointments.  If they are not willing to fight school board appointments, how will they fight the federal government on this important issue? These are the easy fights compared to fighting the U.S. Department of Education.

This will be one of the tests to see if Chris Sununu, Executive Councilor running for Governor, is willing to really fight against Common Core. Voting for board members who support Common Core and running a campaign opposed to Common Core will be tough to explain to parents who are counting on a future governor to lead New Hampshire out of Common Core.  Parents in New Hampshire do not expect their candidates to say one thing and then do another.

Let’s make sure that these Executive Councilors do what the parents in this state want.

PLEASE call or email the following Executive Council members as soon as possible, asking them to support our two new nominees. The Executive Council meets again on February 10, 2016 at 10 AM. Please contact them before their next meeting.

Here is their contact information:

District 1 Councilor Joseph D. Kenney
PO Box 201
Union, NH 03887
Office: (603) 271-3632
Cell: (603) 581-8780
Home : (603) 473-2569
Email: Joseph.Kenney@NH.gov

District 3 Councilor Christopher T. Sununu
71 Hemlock Court
Office: (603) 271-3632
Home: (603) 969-1488
Email: csununu@nh.gov Party Affiliation: Republican

District 5 Councilor David K. Wheeler
523 Mason Road
Milford, NH 03055
Office: (603) 271-3632
Home : (603) 672-6062
Email: David.Wheeler@nh.gov
Party Affiliation: Republican

District 2 Colin Van Ostern
PO Box 193
Concord, NH 03302
Executive Council Office: (603) 271-3632
Cell: (603) 290-5848 Email: cvanostern@nh.gov Party Affiliation: Democrat

District 4 Christopher Pappas
629 Kearney Circle
Manchester, NH 03104
Executive Council Office: (603) 271-3632
Cell: (603) 867-8438 Email: cpappas@nh.gov Party Affiliation: Democrat