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Column: The history behind New Hampshire education freedom accounts
02-23-2024 5:18 PM

By WAYNE GERSEN

It was distressing, but not surprising, to read that the New Hampshire Legislature is considering an increase in funding for Education Freedom Accounts by raising the eligibility ceiling to $150,000 per year for families of four who want to secure...

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Column: Gov. Scott’s ‘education transformation’ contains big flaws
01-31-2025 4:52 PM

By WAYNE GERSEN

Last week’s Valley News editorial asked whether Vermont is ready to overhaul its education system. Now that Gov. Phil Scott has presented his Education Transformation Proposal we have an answer — No.


Column: When ICE comes for our neighbors
01-13-2025 11:33 AM

By WAYNE GERSEN

For much of the 20th century, social studies textbooks proudly declared that the United States was a melting pot or a mosaic of immigrants. These books almost always included a picture of the Statue of Liberty and the words of Emma Lazarus’ poem engraved on its base: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”


Column: Taking the DOGE approach to the Lebanon budget
12-13-2024 6:17 PM

By WAYNE GERSEN

Lebanon officials have warned residents that a series of tax increases will be needed to retain their current services (“First in wave of tax hikes loom”; Nov. 23). Citing employee contracts, debt payments and the need to replenish the city’s...


Column: Voting results bode ill for NH public schools
11-15-2024 4:16 PM

By WAYNE GERSEN

Even though it was hardly mentioned in the campaigns that ended last Tuesday, public education was on the ballot. It lost. With the Republicans in complete control in Washington and Concord, community-based public schools serving all children may...


Column: Revenue silence in the New Hampshire governor’s race
10-25-2024 5:05 PM

By WAYNE GERSEN

Last week, NHPR reporter Josh Rogers flagged four “major issues” defining the governor’s race, each of which was based on the other candidate’s shortcomings. Craig’s campaign has focused on Ayotte’s waffling on abortion rights and her lucrative...


Column: What it means to be liberal
10-11-2024 4:23 PM

By WAYNE GERSEN

New Hampshire’s Governorship is one of the few competitive elections in the nation. The campaigns of former GOP senator and state attorney general Kelly Ayotte and Democrat Joyce Craig, former mayor of Manchester, are flooding the airwaves and our...


Column: How the next president could address both housing costs and school funding
09-13-2024 5:34 PM

By WAYNE GERSEN

Both Presidential candidates and numerous gubernatorial candidates have made “affordable housing” a hot button issue in 2024. I put “affordable housing” in quotes because the definition of “affordable housing” and who would qualify for it is unclear....


Column: New law won’t move needle on NH teacher pay
08-23-2024 4:53 PM

By WAYNE GERSEN

I was interested to read in Tuesday’s Valley News about how Republican legislators will help New Hampshire school districts find the money needed to provide teachers with ample pay. Ethan DeWitt’s article from the New Hampshire Bulletin describes a...


Column: Democracy is always on state and local ballots
06-28-2024 6:01 PM

By WAYNE GERSEN

One of the prevalent catch phrases for the 2024 election is “Democracy is on the ballot” and as the election nears, it seems far from certain that democracy will prevail. After a long career in public education, I understand why voters might be...


Column: American grandeur, in both landscape and spirit
06-14-2024 4:23 PM

By WAYNE GERSEN

My wife and I spent four of the past six weeks on the road in the west on two road trips that covered 3,700 miles. Our travels, which took us from Phoenix to the Pacific Northwest, helped us appreciate the vastness and emptiness of almost all of the...


Column: Calling police to campus is always a tough decision
05-10-2024 8:34 PM

By WAYNE GERSEN

As a retired public-school administrator I have tremendous empathy for Dartmouth College President Sian Beilock. Throughout my career I faced many contentious and complex decisions that I knew would be popular with some constituent groups but...


Column: The relationship between taxes and civilization
04-12-2024 6:23 PM

By WAYNE GERSEN

As April 15 approaches, many of us are preparing to pay our taxes. On some level, all voters realize that taxes help underwrite government services they value, that they are “the price we pay for a civilized society.” However, unlike our monthly...


Column: Public school equity is going to require more funding
03-15-2024 5:26 PM

By WAYNE GERSEN

Two recent Valley News’ editorials focused on what it called Vermont’s “education funding mess.” Vermont’s education funding is a mess, but a mess that is hardly unique to Vermont. It is not unlike New Hampshire’s “education funding mess” or the...


Column: New Hampshire lawmakers ignore obvious gun safety measures
02-09-2024 4:35 PM

By WAYNE GERSEN

Monday’s Valley News featured two articles describing gun control legislation under consideration this year in New Hampshire. As part of the majority of voters who seek stricter gun control, I am frustrated and bewildered by the incremental approach...


Column: Assessing New Hampshire’s border ‘crisis’
01-26-2024 5:48 PM

By WAYNE GERSEN

Did you realize that New Hampshire is experiencing a border crisis? Neither did I, and neither did a sizable majority of my fellow New Hampshire residents. A recent survey reported in the Boston Globe, indicated that 44% of us were “not at all...


Column: Put the war on drugs out of its misery
10-02-2023 12:33 PM

By WAYNE GERSEN

Despite my efforts to squelch unwelcome correspondence from Ron DeSantis’ campaign, I continue to receive his glossy mailers. One side of his latest missive boasts that unlike his predecessors, Ron DeSantis would be willing to pull the trigger on...


Column: Climate change is real. Ask the insurance companies
09-11-2023 1:34 PM

By WAYNE GERSEN

This just in: Climate change is not a hoax! As I was this essay, the lead story on my phone’s news feed was “Hurricane Lee forecast to become strongest Atlantic storm so far this year.” Thursday’s Valley News featured a front-page picture of Judy...


Column: Addiction is a disease familiar to many
08-28-2023 9:51 AM

By WAYNE GERSEN

As one of the 46% of Americans who have a family member or friend who struggles with chemical dependency, I view the reporting on Hunter Biden’s misdeeds as a missed opportunity to educate the half of the country who does not view addiction as a...


Column: Are there some medical questions that are best left unanswered?
04-03-2023 9:54 AM

By WAYNE GERSEN

Here’s a thought experiment. What if, after Roe v. Wade was decided, humanity decided that additional research on birth control was too contentious to explore. In such a world, Roe v. Wade would be the final word on the question of when life began...


Column: Be careful what you wish for
03-27-2023 11:38 AM

By WAYNE GERSEN

Yesterday afternoon I read The Brilliant Inventor Who Made Two of History’s Biggest Mistakes, an article about Thomas Midgley, Jr. that will appear in this weekend’s NYTimes Magazine. Written by Steven Johnson, the article offers a history of...

Displaying articles 1 to 20 out of 22 total.
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