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On her way out the door, former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig and her fellow Democrats approved a $290 million bond to fund new school construction across the district.

The question now is, who’s going to show up to attend them?

For years, Manchester enrollment has declined, even as spending has soared. But the impact of the COVID pandemic has contributed to a new problem: chronic absenteeism. Kids are enrolled, but they’re not showing up.

According to New Hampshire Department of Education data released this week, Manchester’s high school reported an 85.7 percent attendance rate for the 2022-2023 school year, among the lowest in the state.

Chronic absenteeism is when an individual student has at least 10 or more unexcused absences from school per year. The state average for high school attendance in the 2022-2023 school year was 90.8 percent, and the average for all grades was 92.3 percent.

Manchester’s total attendance for all grades was 89.2 percent.

(New Hampshire’s data does not differentiate excused absences from unexcused, leaving the public with just the rate of attendance.)

Manchester is hardly alone.

A new report from the American Enterprise Institute using data from 40 states and the District of Columbia estimates that 26 percent of public school students were chronically absent last school year, up from the pre-pandemic rate of 15 percent. This study defines chronic absenteeism as missing 10 percent of a school year, which is nearly a month of classroom instruction.

New Hampshire, with one of the best-educated states and top-performing education systems, isn’t seeing numbers as low as the national average. But attendance among Granite State students has declined, and Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais tells NHJournal city leaders know they need to do more to get kids in class.

“School attendance is critically important, particularly coming out of the pandemic and mitigating the learning loss experienced during these unprecedented times. The Manchester School District initiated an attendance campaign last summer, which has played an important role in increasing attendance in the schools,” Ruais said.

“We are not where we want or need to be, but by embedding attendance goals into the core objectives of every school, we are reaffirming our commitment to providing a supportive and conducive environment where every student has the opportunity to succeed academically.”

Student attendance took a major dip during the pandemic years, and while the rates in New Hampshire are improving, Manchester Superintendent Jennifer Chmiel Gillis said more is being done to get kids back into the classroom.

“In the last year, we hired a district-wide attendance coordinator and launched our Show Up Manchester attendance campaign,” Chmiel Gillis said. “Additionally, schools have built attendance improvement into their yearly goals. We are now starting to see the early fruits of these efforts between the district and schools, with attendance increasing at all grade levels. We have more work to do, but we are encouraged by the progress and will continue moving forward.”

Experts say the social isolation that was created by social media and boosted by extended school closings is fraying the social connections between children and making it easier for less-motivated students to stay home.

A similar dynamic may be at play in schools, where experts say strong relationships are critical for attendance.

“There is a sense of, ‘If I don’t show up, would people even miss the fact that I’m not there?'” Charlene M. Russell-Tucker, the commissioner of education in Connecticut, told The New York Times.

Jason Bedrick, a Research Fellow in the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation, told NHJournal that while the causes of the current crisis are complicated, the disastrous impact of COVID-related closure cannot be ignored.

“A significant factor is almost certainly the prolonged and unnecessary school closures that the teachers unions pushed. School closures sent the implicit message that attending school in person was not necessary. Putting the genie back in the bottle won’t be easy,” Bedrick said.

Data on private school attendance rates in New Hampshire is not available.

A representative for New Hampshire’s Department of Education told NHJournal that public school attendance is once again heading in the right direction. A decade before COVID, the state’s schools averaged 95 percent attendance. In the 2021-22 school year, it fell to of 90.8 percent. Now attendance is up to 92.3 percent — a marked improvement.

“Following an academic period when respiratory illnesses often resulted in above-average absences, attendance in New Hampshire’s public classrooms are not only steady but strongly improving,” the representative said.

But in Manchester that year, attendance fell to 87 percent, and among high school students, it was a dismal 82.4 percent.

And, critics say, the Manchester School Board didn’t help matters last November when it changed school policy and ended the practice of giving a “no grade” to high school students who have five or more unexcused absences in a class they are passing.

Kathy Bossi doesn’t think refusing to wear a face mask at a public meeting is a crime. But New Hampshire’s Supreme Court upheld her trespassing conviction anyway.

The Kingston grandmother and Sunday school teacher lost her appeal when the state Supreme Court ruled late last week that she was, in fact, guilty of trespass at a school board meeting when she protested a mask mandate.

Bossi was arrested at a May 2021 Timberlane Regional School Board meeting when she refused to put on a surgical face mask, which the school required as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic raging at the time.

Mask mandates became a cultural hot button as parents across the country responded with protests. The video of police officers pulling the handcuffed Bossi out of the Timberlane High School auditorium went viral.

In her appeal, Bossi argued refusing to wear a mask isn’t a crime, and she cannot be criminally charged for not being masked. The court ruled, however, that Bossi was convicted for entering a space without privilege or license and not for mask refusal.

“The defendant also argues that the case should have been dismissed because ‘[r]efusing to wear a surgical mask as a condition for attending a public meeting at Timberlane Regional School Board is not a crime.’ The school board did condition the license or privilege to enter the auditorium on wearing a mask, and it authorized the Plaistow Police Department to enforce the policy. Because the defendant entered the auditorium without license or privilege, she was arrested for criminal trespass,” the court ruled.

Bossi was part of a group of Timberlane parents protesting the district’s in-school masking policy. When she refused to put on a mask in order to get into the auditorium, she was arrested.

“You are violating my rights right now,” Bossi told police in the video. “Are you seriously doing this, you guys?”

School Board Chair Katie Knutsen did not respond to NHJournal’s request for comment.

The school district had enacted a policy that everyone entering school buildings was required to wear face masks, including the auditorium where board meetings were held. The school board posted signs outside the meeting that said face masks were required, and the face mask requirement was noticed in the meeting agenda. 

Bossi and a few other protesters pushed past police officers with signs to get into the auditorium before they were stopped. According to court records, officers had spoken to Bossi and the mask requirement and told her she could not enter the meeting without a mask. 

Bossi reportedly told police she was going to get into the auditorium without a mask, and they could not stop her. While she did manage to get into the meeting, she was soon arrested. Bossi reportedly refused to give police her name when she was first taken into custody.

The in-person meeting was canceled shortly after Bossi’s arrest, and the board met via Zoom.

Bossi was convicted on the misdemeanor criminal trespassing charge in Salem District Court. One count of disorderly conduct was conditionally dismissed until Bossi’s appeal was heard and decided. 

Bossi represented herself in the appeal and argued that refusing to comply with a mask mandate does not rise to the level of being a crime and that she had every right to be in the public building during a public meeting.

Bossi did not respond to NHJournal’s request for comment.

Part of Bossi’s argument rests on her theory that police officers did not have the right to enforce a mask mandate. However, the court found police were at the meeting by request of the school board. The board was concerned about anti-mask protesters causing a disturbance and asked officers to keep the peace.

Public health authorities, including former White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, have since acknowledged a lack of data supporting mask mandates as an effective response to the pandemic. 

Earlier this month, Fauci admitted the six-foot rule used to keep classrooms closed during the pandemic was not based on science or data but rather “sort of just appeared.”

Accused of spending COVID relief money on sports cars, Andy Sanborn is betting he can keep the license for his Concord Casino.

Sanborn, a former GOP state senator, is now set to argue his case to the New Hampshire Lottery Commission at a Monday hearing after weeks of delays. Sanborn sued the state to push back the hearing, originally scheduled for October. He successfully got more time for his lawyers to put together his defense.

Sanborn has denied the accusation that he misused $844,000 in COVID relief funds to buy himself two Porsches and a Ferrari for his wife, state Rep. Laurie Sanborn (R-Bedford.).

In August, the Lottery Commission and New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella publicly declared Sanford unfit to hold a casino license based on the alleged misdeeds uncovered during a regular background investigation.

Sanborn first got the casino license in 2018. He was up for renewal when the alleged fraud was found.

Along with three vehicles allegedly bought with COVID money, the May 2022 audit found Sanborn was paying himself rent for the casino. It is owned through Sanborn’s Win, Win, Win LLC, but the Main Street property in Concord is owned by another Sanborn business, The Best Revenge LLC.

The lease agreement between Best Revenge and Win, Win, Win has the casino pay the property $6,000 a year in rent, paid out at $500 a month. According to the audit, Sanborn wired $163,500 from Win, Win, Win to Best Revenge between January and August 2022 to cover the rent. 

That was more than $20,000 a month for the $500 a month rent. To put it another way, Sanborn appears to have paid himself for more than 27 years of rent in eight months.

According to the audit, Sanborn’s casino was losing money, and the business was down to a little more than $900 available cash before the COVID relief money came through.

Sanborn disputes those facts, claiming the audit looked at the wrong accounts and he had about $150,000 available. While the business lost money in 2020, things had picked up in 2021, he states. Sanborn claims the casino generates $400,000 a month in revenue.

The commission had concerns about Sanborn before the May 2022 audit. Records show his suitability to hold a casino license was being questioned. The commission had worries about his past stint as a state senator, where crude jokes resulted in allegations of sexual harassment in 2013 and an investigation into a bribe to hush up a witness in 2018.

Sanborn was cleared of the bribery accusation. He acknowledged making a crude joke in front of an intern. The exact joke has not been disclosed, but records indicate he was discussing oral sex. One woman told investigators she was warned not to be alone with Sanborn when she started her job in the State House.

The commission was also concerned about the lawsuit brought by creditors in his business bankruptcy filing. Sanborn filed for bankruptcy in 2004 as his business, Brannigan’s Cycleworks, was failing. According to court records, he was sued by creditors who accused him of moving money ahead of the bankruptcy.

After Formella announced the charges, Laurie Sanborn was forced to step down from her role as chair of the new state gambling commission. Formella referred the matter to his office’s Public Integrity Unit as well as to the United States Attorney for the District of New Hampshire.

Despite years of trying to push remote legislating, Granite State Democratic lawmakers must show up to do their jobs.

United States District Court Judge Landya McCafferty this week dismissed the long-running lawsuit against Speaker Sherman Packard (R-Londonderry) over House rules requiring in-person attendance for representatives.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, New Hampshire Democrats have aggressively pursued policies to both mandate behavior in the cause of public health and to rewrite rules to accommodate those in fear of the virus. Mask mandates have proven to be largely ineffective in stopping the spread of COVID, and there is little evidence that restricting the behavior of healthy Americans had any benefit on health outcomes.

But that hasn’t stopped Granite State Democrats, who have past three years in court pushing to override House rules requiring in-person attendance to conduct the people’s business.

Packard has maintained the ultimate authority to set the rules lies with the House and not the courts. Judge McCafferty agreed.

“The order speaks for itself,” Packard said in response to the ruling. “It reaffirms our belief there is a democratic process by which the House adopts its rules, and that process is not subject to court intervention.

“Over the last two terms under my administration, we have worked tirelessly to keep legislative business moving forward. My hope is that we continue to work together and make some positive changes to benefit all New Hampshire citizens.”

McCafferty showed deference to Packard’s legal position, which was bolstered by a First Circuit Court of Appeals ruling issued last year. The authority to set attendance rules belongs to the House.

“The court is not unsympathetic to plaintiffs’ legitimate concerns. But it cannot base its decision on whether it agrees with the procedures voted upon by the New Hampshire House of Representatives,” McCafferty said.

Lawmakers have been meeting in person since the start of the 2022 House session, and all votes are done in person. There are remote options to participate in hearings, but that does not include the ability to cast votes remotely.

Democrats sued Packard, claiming he used the attendance rules in order to gain a partisan advantage during the pandemic. Several Democratic lawmakers, like Rep. David Cote (D-Nashua), simply refused to attend House sessions out of fear of the virus. But because Cote continued to run for reelection — and the voters of Nashua reelected him — he “served” without casting a single vote on behalf of his constituents for three years. In fact, he was never even sworn into office after his 2022 reelection. 

Cote eventually resigned in July.

It was a hot Thursday morning at the PorcFest Pavilion in Lancaster, and as hundreds waited in the sun to see Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the air was thick with excitement.

And pot.

And the scents that come with the presence of a large number of dogs.

It also didn’t help that the central bathroom with showers, located near the Norse pagan spiritual village, was out of order. The adjacent port-a-potties were also shut. It was hoped that would all be fixed before Thursday night’s scheduled free couples shower event. 

This was the environment RFK Jr. stepped into when he showed up for Porcfest, the Free State Project’s annual gathering in the White Mountains. Once he took the stage, the air was full of something else familiar at FSP gatherings: Anti-government conspiracy theories.

Kennedy’s appearance at this libertarian event upset Democrats like New Hampshire state party chairman Ray Buckley, who sent the Democratic presidential candidate a plea not to participate.

“Free Staters are nearly universally Republican primary voters; they are highly unlikely to vote in the Democratic Primary,” Buckley wrote. “Free Staters view with hostility our candidates, elected officials, values, and our party as a whole.”

Given the hostility Kennedy’s candidacy has received from his fellow Democrats — including candidates and elected officials — that latter point may have been moot.

And if the state Democratic Party wasn’t thrilled by RFK Jr. showing up at PorcFest, not every Free Stater was happy about it, either. Kennedy’s security requirements involved a ban on firearms in the Pavilion, no small feat at an event that often appears to be a walking gun show.

Guns are everywhere at PorcFest. People brought their AR-15s to the dog meet-up (though there was a conspicuous lack of doggie clean-up bags). They wore rifles on slings when grilling burgers or buying tacos. And so, while Kennedy spoke, there was a small pro-gun protest about 100 yards away at the self-declared “grassy knoll.”

It was a joke that could be considered offensive to a Kennedy family member, except that RFK Jr. believes a government-backed conspiracy murdered his uncle.

And while Kennedy and the FSP crowd may have disagreed on guns, they found plenty of common ground on the overall premise that government is a major part of America’s problems.

In his speech, Kennedy rolled through a tale of CIA operations to create bioweapons, totalitarian attempts to subvert the Constitution, Microsoft founder Bill Gates working behind the scenes with Dr. Anthony Fauci to create a fake vaccine — with a couple of side trips through the dangers of the Patriot Act.

And, because he is Kennedy, there was a long discourse on environmental law administrative proceedings.

The end of the federal COVID Public Health Emergency is coming, and that could result in tens of thousands of New Hampshire residents without health insurance. 

When the pandemic hit, some Americans were left without jobs and health insurance. The COVID Public Health Emergency allowed people who lost their insurance to sign up for their state Medicaid plan. But that help is coming to an end soon.

The Granite State is ready, though, with organizations preparing people to sign up for coverage in the Affordable Care Act Marketplace.

“I believe New Hampshire is way ahead of most other states,” said Keith Ballingall, president of Market Health Connect. “The state right now contains different partners to make sure we’re all working together.”

Market Health Connect is one of several companies working in the state to get people signed up for health insurance ahead of the ending of the Public Health Emergency.

President Joe Biden recently extended the so-called Public Health Emergency until the middle of January, creating a perfect storm for Ballingall and his team at MHC. The end of the emergency coincides with the open sign-up period for the marketplace, meaning thousands more people will be looking for coverage.

Keith Ballingall, president of Health Market Connect

New Hampshire residents who are on Medicaid through the Public Health Emergency are now getting pink letters informing them they will lose their coverage when the emergency officially ends. Ballingall and his team are reaching out to those people now to get them ready to sign up for a new plan.

Ballingall said about 50,000 people are already anticipated to be looking for health care during the open sign-up period, and another 50,000 to 60,000 will be looking because they got pink letters from the state.

“When the Public Health Emergency ends we will have a 60-day window to help,” Ballingall said.

MHC has people, called navigators, positioned throughout the state serving specialized populations, he said. New Hampshire attracts people from all over the world, and there are dozens of languages spoken in the Granite State.

“I think we’re doing a very good job having a very diverse team ourselves,” he said.

The health care navigator program is community-driven, he said, with the navigators living in their regions, understanding the people there, and able to provide real on-the-ground help.

Donna Toomey, one of MHC’s healthcare navigators, is based in the Lakes Region and reaches out to people wherever she can find them.

“I have been doing this work for over 20 years,” Toomey said. “I am very rooted in my community.”

Toomey goes to public meetings and holds open hours at town halls and tax collector offices. She talks with local police and firefighters, goes to schools and attends wellness fairs and old home days, and even meets people at homeless shelters to connect with people who will need help in the coming weeks.

Navigators like Toomey can make sure people will still be able to go to the doctor and get care even if they get a pink letter.

“We’re starting applications for the Marketplace now if people are going to lose their coverage when the emergency ends. That way they won’t lose coverage,” Toomey said.

Ballingall said navigators at MHC can work with people now and do all the necessary paperwork so that they are prepared for the end of the Public Health Emergency, no matter how many people will need assistance.

“At some point, it’s going to go back to the traditional rolls, and we’ve got to find someplace for them to go,” Ballingall said.

Many people who got a pink letter will go to a new plan on the Marketplace, though some may remain signed up for state Medicaid, he said.

The challenge is to reach so many people before the end of the Public Health Emergency. Toomey said the state has made the process as easy as possible, and applications can be done in 15 minutes. The key is to be ready before the January rush.

“I think the name of the game is sooner rather than later,” Toomey said.

People who have received a pink letter can start the process by connecting with a navigator at MHC through the website, www.hmcnh.com.

The U.S. Supreme Court is refusing to take the appeal made by Democratic lawmakers suing state House Speaker Sherman Packard over the legislature’s COVID-19 restrictions. 

The high court rejected the petition for appeal this week as the Democratic lawmakers sought to overturn the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that held Packard (R-Londonderry) is protected by legislative immunity when making House rules, including rules about what COVID precautions to institute.’

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Granite State Democratic legislators have aggressively pushed restrictions, including mask mandates and a demand to allow remote voting. And Democrats have continued that push even after a vaccine became widely available and the data showed mitigation efforts did little to stop the spread of the novel virus and its variants.

After the First Circuit Court ruled against the Democrats earlier this year, their legal team filed the appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court and prepared a new complaint in the lawsuit at the federal court in Concord.

Packard’s office said Wednesday he is reviewing his options after the development with the U.S. Supreme Court noting, “Speaker Packard is reviewing the latest details of this ongoing litigation case with his legal team.”

Democrats have been trying, and failing, to get a court to impose COVID rules on the State House that would allow for remote access for legislators who live with serious health conditions. The new complaint filed this summer claimed former Minority Leader Rep. Robert “Renny” Cushing died as a result of COVID-19.

House Minority Leader Rep. David Cote (D-Nashua) has taken over as lead plaintiff on the lawsuit. Cote, 61, lives with cerebral palsy and has missed at least two years of votes in the House.

Two of the original plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Cushing and Rep. Katherine Rogers (D-Concord), have died since it was first filed. Both Cushing and Rogers were diagnosed with cancer.

The First Circuit’s ruling found Packard enjoys “legislative immunity” and is exempt from following the Americans with Disabilities Act, which was the original basis for the lawsuit.

The lawsuit stated Cushing contracted COVID-19 and that became a complicating factor that resulted in his death. At the time, Cushing was getting experimental treatment for stage-4 prostate cancer.

The lawsuit contended that since most of the legislators seeking remote access are Democrats, the Republican Speaker used the House rules to gain a partisan advantage.

“The refusal to provide any accommodations is for the purpose of gaining an unfair partisan advantage. Motions to explicitly allow remote attendance have repeatedly been decided on a partisan basis,” the lawsuit states. “In essence, the defendants have deliberately created an extraordinary dilemma for the disabled—they can either place themselves and their families at an extreme risk of death, or they can forego participation in democratic institutions, thus leaving their constituents unrepresented.

“This is really not fundamentally different from pointing a gun to the heads of the individual plaintiffs to block them from entering the House. Given the ready availability of measures to provide reasonable accommodations, the refusal to do so is not only of an extraordinary character but shocks the conscience,” Democrats wrote.

Packard has praised previous rulings that protected the prerogative of elected House leadership to govern the House and its rules.

“This opinion reaffirms the importance of the integrity of the legislature and the legislative process,” Packard said in March when the appeals court sided with the GOP. “Both the First Circuit and District Court evaluated the plaintiffs’ arguments and ruled against them. My next step is to continue working on legislation that will benefit the state of New Hampshire and keep pushing us forward.”

By last March, two years after the pandemic began, most Republican and independent voters had moved past the COVID dread Democrats still embraced, said Spencer Kimball, Emerson College’s Director of Polling.

“I have been looking at COVID restrictions and see a big difference nationally between Democratic voters where 38 percent see COVID as a major health threat, while that number is about 17 percent among independents and 14 percent among Republicans,” Kimball said at the time.

In October 2020, the response to the coronavirus was one of the top three issues on voters’ minds, according to polls. In September of 2022, as the House Democrats continued their appeal, it was tied for 14th on the list of voter concerns.

“Everyday Granite Staters are moving on with their lives, but New Hampshire House Democrats are still supporting mandates, still wearing masks, and apparently still trying to strong-arm the legislature in the court system,” said Rep. Ross Berry (R-Manchester). “Today is a big win for everyone living in 2022, and not trying to litigate 2019.”

To close the learning gaps caused by the COVID-19 pandemic school shutdowns, New Hampshire’s Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut announced a new program to offer a 24-hour tutoring service for up to 100,000 students. 

“New Hampshire is stepping up to help students not only recover but reach even higher academic goals,” Edelblut said.

So far, 25 schools have registered to take part in the new Tutor.com program, representing opportunities for more than 11,000 students to get the education help they need. Another 40 schools are also in the process of signing up for the program.

Edelblut said eventually the program will be universally available to all New Hampshire 6 through 12 grade students in public, private, charter, and homeschool programs. The Executive Council approved the $4.8 million three-year contract with Tutor.com last month.

Edelblut went to Jaffrey’s Conant High School this week to announce the start of the partnership. 

“This program will empower students by providing them with personalized, focused attention from tutors who can assist them with math, English, science, SAT prep, and more,” he said. “This 24/7 resource will provide support to students and their teachers.”

Tutor.com gives students no-cost access to one-to-one tutoring, test prep, and homework help with support in multiple languages. Students may engage with their tutors via two-way text-chat or voice, choosing the communication style that works best for them. Tutors undergo background checks and are rigorously vetted, and they provide support using a Socratic approach that is encouraging and empowering, asking guiding questions to help students understand difficult concepts on their own. School districts are being encouraged to register for Tutor.com’s free access for their students; students outside of those districts will be able to register individually. 

“We are proud to partner with NHED to support middle and high school students across the state. We are dedicated to helping students achieve their academic goals and to reducing the stress on learners, families, and teachers,” said Sandi White, Senior Vice President, Institutional Partnerships, Tutor.com.

Test scores are down nationally as a result of the COVID shutdowns, according to data from the National Assessment of Education Progress report. Test scores for students aged 9 declined 5 points in reading and 7 points in math compared to 2020. According to NAEP, that is the largest average score decline in reading since 1990 and the first ever score decline in mathematics

Conant Principal David Dustin said students at his school have been struggling since the pandemic shutdowns and teachers have worked hard to get them up to speed. The COVID learning gaps have put many students in education holes that are hard for even dedicated teachers to handle alone, he said.

“They do whatever they can to help their students and still they can’t meet the needs of all their students.

Tutor.com will help support teachers, as well as parents who are working to get their children back on the right track.

“We know our parents in our community really want their children to succeed,” Dustin said. “This tool will help them.”

The tutoring program is being funded with federal COVID relief money, and Edelblut said the expectation is to close the learning gaps that exist by the time the contract is done in 2025.

“The goal for all of us as educators is to really try and close those learning gaps,” Edelblut said. “We don’t expect that our students 10 years from now are going to be suffering from those learning gaps. We’re trying to close those gaps now.”

Decades of educational gains were lost during the COVID-19 classroom lockdowns, leaving vulnerable students with learning gaps that will last a lifetime, according to new data out this week. 

The National Assessment of Education Progress report, released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Education, shows test scores for nine-year-old students declined five points in reading and seven points in math compared to 2020. According to NAEP, that is the largest average score decline in reading since 1990 and the first-ever score decline in mathematics.

In an odd twist, Democrats who pushed to keep classrooms closed are now blaming Republicans for school shutdowns.

Dr. Aaron Pallas, a professor of Sociology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, told The Wall Street Journal it could take decades for these students to close the learning gaps, if ever. “I don’t think we can expect these 9-year-olds to catch up by the time they leave high school. This is not something that is going to disappear quickly.”

New Hampshire’s Department of Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut said the results are not surprising given the long school shutdowns and remote learning challenges from the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic response.

“COVID negatively affected student performance across the board and exacerbated systemic problems in achievement that preceded COVID, notably high performing students–top quartile–holding steady or making modest gains/losses while bottom quartile students–those already the most vulnerable–are falling farther behind,” Edelblut said. “In math, the top 10 percent of students nationwide declined 3 points while the bottom 10 percent declined 12 points. English Language Arts tells a similar story for national trends. Among these declines, black students fared the worst.”

The NAEP scores for New Hampshire students will be released in October.

 Jason Bedrick, the Heritage Foundation research fellow at the Center for Education Policy, says the scores show the depths of the shutdown’s calamity.

“The dismal NAEP scores confirm what we already knew: the unnecessary school closures that the unions demanded were disastrous for children, especially the most disadvantaged. Black and Hispanic students saw two-to-three times the decline of White students. For Black nine-year-olds, for example, nearly three decades of progress in math was wiped out. Proficiency rates were already low. This is a calamity,” Bedrick said.

A calamity the Biden White House is trying to pin on the GOP.

On Thursday, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said it was the Biden administration who re-opened classrooms, and she said it “was the work of Democrats in spite of Republicans.”

In fact, Democrats overwhelmingly supported teachers unions’ efforts to keep classrooms closed long after most European countries had students back in school. In July 2020, the Democratic National Committee even ran TV ads accusing President Trump of trying to re-open classrooms too quickly.

Edelblut said he is looking forward and is focused on solutions. He said all options need to be on the table to guarantee that students going forward can get the education they need.

“Recovery back to where we were before COVID should not be our goal. No one was satisfied with that performance. We now have an opportunity to lead and transform the disrupted education system to serve all students, top performers and those who are not finding success in the current system,” Edelblut said.

New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella is joining 37 other state attorneys general in calling on Congress to give states the ability to hold airlines accountable when traveler complaints skyrocket. 

“From oversold flights to operational disruptions, too often we see airlines shifting their problems onto their passengers,” Formella said Wednesday.

Formella is part of a bipartisan group of attorneys general who signed a letter asking for the ability to enforce state and federal consular protection laws against airlines. The letter went to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). 

Currently, the United States Department of Transportation is responsible for handling airline complaints, but according to the letter from the attorneys general, the DOT is failing to protect the average airline customer.

“Airlines should take notice that we expect the U.S. air travel system to provide safe, accessible, affordable, and reliable service to all travelers and the federal government should give attorneys general the authority to vigorously investigate and prosecute violations of the law that impact consumers. Customers should not have to deal with issues like delayed airline refunds, baggage fee charges for luggage that is not delivered at the end of a flight, or extra charges for parents to sit with their young children on a plane,” Formella said.

The letter states problems with airlines have been getting worse since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Formella as well as his colleagues have been flooded with complaints.

While he is not mentioned, Biden’s secretary of transportation has been under fire for months over what critics say is his poor management of the airline travel crisis. Buttigieg, who ran for president in 2020 and is considered a likely future candidate, oversees the Department of Transportation (DOT). Over the summer, a group of Democrats including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)  called Buttigieg out for allowing airlines to engage in behavior that was “simply unacceptable.”

According to DOT data, complaints about airlines were up 35 percent in June over May. But the complaints recorded in June of this year are about 270 percent higher than the number of complaints in the June before the pandemic started.

“In June 2022, DOT received 5,862 complaints about airline service from consumers, up 34.9 percent from the 4,344 complaints received in May 2022 and up 269.6 percent from the 1,586 complaints received in pre-pandemic June 2019,” the report states. “For the first six months of 2022, the Department received 28,550 complaints, up 27.8 percent from the 22,336 filed during the first six months of 2021 and more than the entire year of 2019.”

In the first six months of 2022, 24 percent of domestic flights were delayed, and about 3.2 percent were canceled altogether. 

At the same time, airline ticket prices soared 34 percent year over year as inflation took its toll, though they have declined in recent weeks.

Formella was joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.