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Facing accusations of mismanagement and a potential conflict of interest, representatives for the Lionheart Classical Academy met with the state Board of Education behind closed doors on Monday.

Lionheart’s board of trustees representatives asked Board Chair Drew Cline for the non-public meeting to protect the reputations of the people discussed. The minutes for the hour-plus non-public meeting were immediately sealed, but it is likely the topic of discussion was the two letters sent to the BOE laying out concerns about the future of the charter school located in Peterborough.

Founder and major donor Fred Ward alerted the BOE last week about an alleged conflict of interest connected to the Sharon Road building the school leases for more than $24,000 a month.

According to Ward’s letter, written by attorney Richard Lehmann, former Lionheart Trustee Barry Tanner failed to disclose his business relationship with landlord Ophir Sternberg when he negotiated the lease and the naming rights.

Lionheart Academy takes its name from Sternberg’s Lionheart Capital. The $1 million donation Sternberg agreed to make in exchange for the naming rights has largely evaporated, according to Ward.

Lionheart parent Kevin Brace sent a letter to the BOE Monday morning with his worries, including the fact the trustees seem to have lost their conflict of interest statements.

“At the Sept. 12, 2024 LCA Board of Trustees Meeting, the board announced that it had lost the Conflict of Interest forms that the board signed at the May 2024 Board of Trustees meeting. It should be noted that Barry Tanner was the Chairman at the time of that meeting, and his disclosure is now missing. It should be noted that I requested these forms under Right to Know and the board never notified me that the documents were missing. In light of the allegations in Dr. Fred Ward’s correspondence to The New Hampshire State Board of Education, the fact that these documents are now missing is extremely alarming,” Brace wrote.

It is standard practice for boards to have members sign a statement acknowledging they understand the conflict of interest policy, or law, that applies to their institution.

Contacted by NHJournal, Tanner declined to discuss his business with Sternberg. According to Ward, Tanner and Sternberg sought to buy the historic Hancock Inn together around the 2021 time frame when the lease and naming deals were negotiated.

Brace, a former corrections officer with a background as a civilian police commissioner, started going to board meetings this summer after Executive Director Kerry Bedard was fired. He said he was shocked to find out what had been happening.

“As the parent of a child attending Lionheart, I could not sit back and watch an out-of-control board who allowed a landlord to overcharge for rent, accepted junk stock, and refuse to follow state law,” Brace told NHJournal.

Brace’s letter to the BOE raises several questions about the management of the board, including the concern the board is meeting illegally outside of posted meetings. Charter schools are legally public, and the boards are required to follow the same open meeting and public records laws as public school boards.

“On July 26th 2024, LCA Board of Trustees Chairwoman [Kimberly Lavallee] admitted to Commissioner [Frank] Edelblut, [Right to Know] Ombudsman Thomas Kehr, and I in an email that the LCA Board of Trustees had a meeting and took action that was never noticed to the public,” Brace wrote.

Brace also claims board members use a messaging app to conduct board business.

“I was notified by a parent that some LCA Board members were on an app called ‘Band,’ and that they were acting in their official capacity as board members. I requested a copy of those conversations, and the board did not turn them over to me,” Brace wrote.

One of the major concerns Ward raised in his letter, Lionheart’s financial stability, seems to be addressed thanks to a generous, anonymous donor. Hours after Ward sent his letter to the BOE last week, Lionheart announced it was getting a $5 million endowment from an unnamed individual. 

But Brace is worried the current board is not up to the task of managing a gift of that size.

“Given the LCA Board of Trustees track record of handling large donations, I believe the State Board of Education should examine this donation,” Brace wrote.

Sternberg agreed to give Lionheart $1 million in cash through regular $100,000 installments in exchange for the naming rights, according to Ward. However, after one payment was made, Sternberg’s donation was changed to a gift of stock in his investment company, according to Ward’s letter. The school was locked out from accessing that stock for about a year. By the time it was available to cash out, Lionheart’s stock was worthless, Ward states.

Both Ward and Brace are worried the school is stuck with a lease agreement that requires them to pay for upgrades to the building without a written stipulation they can buy the property at any point. Braces blames poor board oversight for this predicament.

“They were supposed to be working for the school, not the landlord,” Brace said.

It’s not clear yet if the BOE will take any action on the Ward and Brace letters. Brace told NHJournal he simply wants to make sure the school can continue educating students like his daughter.

“All I am asking for is for the State BOE to provide some much-needed oversight. I do not want the school to fail. It’s hard for me as a parent to trust that this current board is really doing the right thing, especially given their recent history of turning a blind eye and telling everyone that things are great,” Brace said.

Just days after a New Hampshire Department of Education report showing public school enrollment plunging amid spending hikes, a judge has ordered the state to pay even more.

Rockingham Superior Court Judge David Ruoff released his long-awaiting ruling in the ConVal education funding lawsuit on Monday, declaring the state must pay a per-pupil minimum state adequacy grant of $7,356. The net cost to state taxpayers would be nearly $538 million per year. And, Ruoff said, that’s likely just the beginning.

“What is the base cost to provide the opportunity for an adequate education 239 years after that fundamental right was ratified in our Constitution? The short answer is that the Legislature should have the final word, but the base adequacy cost can be no less than $7356.01 per pupil per year, and the true cost is likely much higher than that. At a minimum, this is an increase of $537,550,970.95 in base adequacy aid to New Hampshire Schools,” Ruoff wrote.

Ruoff wasn’t done. In a separate ruling in the Rand vs. State of New Hampshire case, Ruoff ruled that property-rich communities can no longer keep excess Statewide Education Property Taxes revenue in reserve. That practice allowed these communities to set a negative SWEPT tax rate.

Ruoff initially tried to avoid setting a number in the ConVal case. He ruled for ConVal in 2019, finding that the state’s education funding system results in an inadequate amount per pupil, and is therefore unconstitutional. However, he originally ruled that it is up to the legislature to determine the number, not a judge.

After the state appealed, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ordered Ruoff to hold a trial and determine what the cost per pupil ought to be. 

Ruoff’s order still faces a possible challenge from the state. Gov. Chris Sununu called Ruoff’s decision an overreach.

“New Hampshire currently spends among the most per capita on public education than nearly any other state. Today’s decision is deeply concerning and an overreach into a decades-long precedent appropriately placed in the hands of our elected representatives in Concord,” Sununu said.

New Hampshire Department of Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut’s office declined to comment. Michael Garrity, communications director for New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella, said Ruoff’s decisions are being reviewed.

“We have received the court’s order. We will review it and consider potential next steps,” Garrity said.

But the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, a pro-education-reform think tank, immediately blasted the premise of the judge’s ruling, noting that education spending in New Hampshire has exploded, even as the number of students in the k-12 fallen drastically.

“NH public schools are not ‘underfunded’ and have not experienced a decline in funding this century. On the contrary, as school district enrollment fell by 30,000, spending, adjusted for inflation, rose by nearly $1 billion,” the Barlett Center posted on X.

As for the judge’s arbitrary price of an “adequate” education, the center responded:

“Trying to figure out the true cost of an adequate education by measuring what monopoly school districts spend is like trying to figure out the true cost of package delivery by measuring Post Office prices before the arrival of FedEx and UPS. Markets, not judges, set prices.”

But Democrats, who’ve been pushing for more state spending for decades, were delighted.

State Sen. Democratic Caucus Leader Donna Soucy (D-Manchester) is ready to start charging. Ruoff’s decision will be the template she and other Democratic lawmakers will use going forward as they look to increase school spending to at least the $7,300 minimum,

“Our caucus will closely review the court decisions released today, and we will examine legislative action to ensure that a constitutional formula is enacted,” she said.

Zack Sheehan, the executive director of the left-leaning New Hampshire School Funding Fairness Project, called the decisions big wins for students and property taxpayers. He said that the legislature’s refusal to fund education at the state level has pushed the bill down to local property taxes and burned homeowners.

“These are exciting rulings, but for their impact to be felt, the legislature has to get to work and bring our school funding statutes into line with this and all past school funding rulings,” Sheehan said. “The changes promised in the Claremont decisions have been denied to Granite Staters for too long already, so I want to see the state accept this ruling and not continue wasting time by appealing it to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.”

In actuality, New Hampshire hit a state-spending record on k-12 education in the current budget, while few communities cut their property taxes.

In deciding that $7,300 is the minimum adequate education amount, Ruoff used numbers provided by public school districts and the Department of Education. There was no data from public charter schools or private schools, Cline said. He added that it is like deciding what the price of a hamburger ought to be based on just the McDonald’s Big Mac while ignoring Burger King and Wendy’s.

“Markets, not judges, determine prices. That’s the fundamental flaw in this whole game. New Hampshire needs a market for educational services,” Cline said.

The ConVal and Rand lawsuits are the ideological, if not legal, sequels to the Claremont lawsuits of the 1980s and 1990s. In Claremont, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled all New Hampshire children have a constitutional right to an adequate education, and the state is on the hook to make sure that happens. The Supreme Court, however, left the funding details up to lawmakers.

The Peterborough-based Contoocook Valley Regional School District filed the lawsuit in 2018, arguing the state’s then-adequate education grant of $3,600 per pupil was far below the true cost and, therefore, was unconstitutional. ConVal and the dozens of school districts that joined the lawsuit wanted closer to $10,000 per pupil.

Since the ConVal suit was filed, lawmakers and Sununu bumped up the grants to $4,100 per pupil, an amount Ruoff still found unconstitutionally low. The total cost of education in New Hampshire, including the portion paid through local property taxes, averages just shy of $20,000 per pupil. 

The Rand lawsuit saw parents in property-poor towns challenging the way they claimed wealthier communities were able to game the SWEPT system, increasing the propeller of education funding inequality.

SWEPT accounts for 30 percent of education funding in New Hampshire. Under the law, as many as 30 wealthy Granite State communities keep a portion of the money raised through the SWEPT, while some poorer towns are paying more, according to the lawsuit.

Enrollment in New Hampshire’s Catholic schools continues to climb as parents seek alternatives to public education.

Dana Kelliher wanted more for her boys, Aiden, 10, and Connor, 8. After almost two years of dealing with her sons’ educations being held back in public schools due to pandemic-related restrictions, Kelliher believed her sons could be doing more.

“We were really just looking for a more rigorous curriculum,” she said. “We wanted them to do more old-fashioned learning. I didn’t want them on a chrome book everyday.”

The Kelliher’s settled on Saint Joseph Regional Catholic School in Salem. There, her sons are in grounded programs that push them to excel, she said, especially in reading and working.

“I feel like they’re coming home with actual grades, and there’s a lot more communication with the teachers,” she said.

The Kelliher’s are far from alone in switching to parochial schools. According to the Diocese of Manchester, 214 new students enrolled in its 18 diocesan schools at the start of this current school year, for a total of 3,692 enrolled students statewide. That increase represents a 6.2 percent increase over the 3,427 students in parochial schools last year.

“This is a resurgence in an interest in Catholic education across the state,” said Alison Mueller, director of marketing, enrollment, and development for Catholic schools. “We believe that parents are the primary educators of their children, and we serve to partner with them in that education and formation. This type of message resonates with parents.”

Mueller said parents want better academics, and also better values in schools. In a recent survey distributed by the Catholic Schools Office, parents indicated they want God in the classroom, traditional academics, and family values.

“Parents want to know that when they send their child to school each day, they are in a safe and joyful place. The pandemic disrupted the educational system in 2020 and since then, I think parents have become more invested in ensuring the best outcomes and educational options for their children. More families are realizing they do, in fact, have options,” said Superintendent of Catholic Schools David Thibault

The Catholic school enrollments started going up in the summer of 2020, with a first wave of about 500 new students. The diocese responded to the pandemic by launching a Transfer Incentive Program to help families afford the tuition. They also announced a commitment to in-person learning during the coming school year.  

After parents experienced months of pandemic-related shutdowns, the parochial alternative looked good to many. The parents who tried it apparently liked it. According to Mueller, 80 percent of those students who made the switch to Catholic schools are still enrolled.

Kelliher said the small community built around the school is providing a positive and safe social setting for her children. She also feels more connected to the staff and teachers in the school than she did before.

“I feel more in the loop, knowing what they’re doing everyday,” she said.

Parochial schools aren’t the only alternate education being explored by New Hampshire parents. More than 4,100 students are homeschooling this year, according to the Department of Education. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, about 3,000 students homeschooled in New Hampshire, though that figure jumped in the 2020/2021 school year to more than 6,000.

Across the country, public school districts are openly discussing a return to remote learning, despite overwhelming data showing it is detrimental to educational outcomes. Prince Georges County, Md. has already announced it is ending classroom instruction until at least January 18, 2022. More schools are expected to follow.

New Hampshire offers Education Freedom Accounts for parents looking for assistance to pay for private school, or even homeschool materials and equipment. More than 1,600 students have taken advantage of the program so far. The state is also home to 30 public charter schools that provide uniquely tailored programs for students throughout the state. 

A proposed draft amendment for an education bill would dramatically shake up the state Department of Education and shift some power and authority to the state education commissioner. Yet, the senator who introduced it said it simply “allows managers to manage their department.”

Frank Edelblut, the new commissioner who previously lost the Republican gubernatorial bid to Chris Sununu in the 2016 election, is already a controversial figure within Sununu’s administration for his pro-school choice views, and this amendment isn’t sitting well with public school advocates.

Sen. John Reagan, R-Deerfield (Photo Credit: NH Senate website)

The amendment, drafted by Sen. John Reagan, R-Deerfield, was first posted Wednesday by Reaching Higher NH, an organization supporting high standards in public schools.

Reagan said the bill came at the request of Edelblut and it “permits the commissioner to make some managerial changes.” He said he doesn’t understand where the backlash on the amendment is coming from.

“He should be able to do what he wants to do,” Reagan told NH Journal. “They [public school advocates] don’t like anything that disturbs their monopoly of state dollars. They see something and try to discredit Republican management of government. You should be able to let your managers manage your business.”

Among the proposed changes, Reagan is proposing to eliminate four existing divisions in the state Department of Education (DOE) and replacing them with four new divisions under the direction of the commissioner, and giving the commissioner authority over several programs, funds, and personnel.

The proposal is poised to be an amendment to House Bill 356. Reagan said he talked to Rep. Rick Ladd, R-Haverhill, who is the author of HB356 and Ladd gave him the go-ahead to attach the amendment to his bill.

Public school advocates are concerned that the amendment “introduces greater volatility and uncertainty around how we hold N.H. schools and districts accountable for delivering an adequate education to our children.”

This is NOT how we do it. NH friends, spread the word; @ChrisSununu & @Edelblut4NH stage a power grab. @AndruVolinsky @WatchYourRepsNH

— Sherry Frost (@frostnhstaterep) April 13, 2017

Reaching Higher NH says the amendment would make it easier for public funds to go towards schools or education offerings that are not subject to the same rigorous public oversight as public schools.

“The amendment would grant the Commissioner of Education expansive authority that exceeds the discretion provided to most other state departments,” the organization wrote in a blog post about the amendment.

In New Hampshire, the state education commissioner is largely seen as the face of the DOE, simply carrying out policy that the state Board of Education introduces.

“The Department of Education, consistent with New Hampshire’s local control ethos, has historically served primarily as the provider of state education funding and as the intermediary between local school districts and the federal Department of Education,” the post stated. “In these roles, the Department provides much needed expertise and serves as an important guardian of students’ rights to a public education.”

The amendment calls for eliminating four divisions, including the Division of Educational Improvement, Division of Program Support, Division of Career Technology and Adult Learning, and Division of Higher Education within the DOE and replacing them with four new divisions, which have not yet been determined, all under the direction of the education commissioner.

Yet, Reagan said he believes the bill means the divisions will just be retitled, “making it easier for the head manager to move managers around. It’s what any organization should be allowed to do.”

Advocates say the amendment would remove an institutional check that exists to prevent the DOE and New Hampshire public education from becoming overly-politicized.

For example, the Division of Educational Improvement currently has the responsibility to “determine if a district is making diligent efforts to resolve personnel shortages that result in children with disabilities being placed out of district.” The amendment would transfer that power to Edelblut.

Reaching Higher NH also said the elimination of the divisions and allowing the commissioner to create new ones allows for a standard of appointing division directors that could lead to nominees who do not have the education or experience to lead those offices.

That was a significant criticism for Edelblut as education commissioner since he does not come from an education background (his children have also been homeschooled), yet he was tapped to lead the department anyway.

“By eliminating the specific responsibilities of the directors, the amendment lowers the standard for appointing directors — the governor and Executive Council will no longer be able to assess whether the Commissioner’s nominees have the education and experience necessary to serve New Hampshire’s kids and families,” the organization wrote.

Advocates are also concerned with the new amendment in terms of financial accountability and how public funds are used within the DOE. The amendment allows the education commissioner to move funds within the department at any time without approval if it’s under $75,000. That means Edelblut can transfer funds allocated for a specific purpose and reallocate them for something else.

“Transfer funds…as the commissioner deems necessary and appropriate to address present or projected budget deficits, or to respond to changes in federal laws, regulations, or programs, and otherwise as necessary for the efficient management of the department…,” the amendment states.

Reagan said the measure was intended to ensure the education commissioner could move funds where there is a need in the department.

“It’s for small amounts, like allowing office managers to use the funds for pencils to instead be used for toners,” he said.

The Legislature’s finance committees, the governor, and Executive Council still must approve transfers of $75,000 or more, but Reagan said they shouldn’t be “controlling” the department at “that level of detail.”

HB 356 has already gone through some changes before it was introduced to the Senate Education Committee on March 23. When it was first introduced in January by Ladd, it would simply tweak the base adequacy funding amount — the amount the state gives to a district per pupil — from $3,561.27 to $3,591.27, only a $30 increase.

He told the House Education Committee that he wanted to use the legislation as a starting point to eventually form a joint committee with the House and Senate to work on a new formula for the next year in time for the next biennium. The committee voted in favor of his amendment, essentially changing the bill establishing a committee to study education funding and the cost of an opportunity for an adequate education, and the House eventually passed the bill at the end of March.

The Senate Education Committee is expected to act on the legislation this month. Reagan’s amendment has not been formally introduced to the committee yet, but a public hearing on the bill has already happened before this amendment was known to members of the public. Advocates are calling to have another public hearing to discuss the amendment.

NH Journal reached out to Edelblut for comment and will update the story with a response.

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For one of Frank Edelblut’s first acts as education commissioner, he wanted the state Board of Education (BOE) to reconsider the state’s science standards, but they unanimously voted to reject his proposal. It’s expected to be the first of many issues that Edelblut and the BOE clash on throughout his term, highlighting the differences between pro-school choice Edelblut and public school advocates.

Last year, the board adopted the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) as the state’s standards after a lengthy two-year review process. The NGSS standards were developed by a consortium of 26 states and by the National Science Teachers Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Research Council, and the nonprofit organization Achieve.

Several New Hampshire school districts had already adopted the NGSS, even though they aren’t bound by the state’s standards. Nearly 20 states have also implemented the NGSS across the country.

Reviewing the science standards was not an issue several board members were ready for at a BOE meeting on April 6.

“Why on Earth are we doing science?,” asked board member Cindy Chagnon. “What are we trying to give our schools and teachers whiplash or something?”

Edelblut said the review was his idea.

“So we in this state are aiming for high standards. And that’s really what we want. And I don’t know if the review was done prior to the adoption of this board or subsequently shortly thereafter, but those [science standards] have been evaluated by a third-party reviewer and rated as a ‘C’ standard,” he said.

The third-party reviewer Edelblut is referring to is the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a think tank that released a 2013 report giving the standards a “C” grade and told states to look elsewhere if they want to overhaul their standards.

“I don’t want to be the guy who’s responsible for a ‘C’ standard,” Edelblut said. “We want to have ‘A’ standards.”

Board members weren’t convinced though, since the state spent two years reviewing the standards and they had just been adopted in November. Reviewing them again would confuse schools and teachers who are starting to implement the standards.

“This would create chaos. This would create extra money spent. This would be ridiculous,” Chagnon said.

One board member suggested voting on a motion to make the board’s intentions clear that they wouldn’t touch the standards.

“I would hope that this board would support a commissioner who was interested in making sure that we have standards that represent the most contemporary, the most cutting-edge opportunities for our students,” Edelblut said.

Democrats were quick to point out that during Edelblut’s confirmation hearing in January, he assured Executive Council members and the public that his personal beliefs wouldn’t get in the way of his position, and he was largely “the implementation guy” for executing policy that the board, not him, largely decides.

Edelblut tries to overhaul SCIENCE, told Exec Council only an "implementer." https://t.co/RPvTz2lY82 via conmonitornews #nhpolitics

— Andru Volinsky (@AndruVolinsky) April 9, 2017

The board ultimately voted unanimously not to review science standards until 2022.

The Pioneer Institute, a think tank in Boston, also weighed in on the controversy of New Hampshire of possibly looking at reviewing NGSS, calling the standards “disgracefully low” and “mediocre.”

Good for @NHEdCommr Edelblut for aiming higher on #science standards. NGSS = disgracefully low https://t.co/E2OWQGMVcG #NH #mapoli #maedu

— Pioneer Institute (@PioneerBoston) April 10, 2017

K-12 ed needs more leaders like @NHEdCommr Edelblut willing to confront mediocre DC-driven #NGSS sci standards https://t.co/E2OWQGMVcG

— Pioneer Institute (@PioneerBoston) April 10, 2017

“Our general take is that high performing states like Massachusetts and New Hampshire shouldn’t be adopting low quality standards,” said Jamie Gass, education policy director for the Pioneer Institute. “Unfortunately, that’s what we’re seeing more and more. Compliance with the D.C.-based outlook of K-12 is not in the educational best interest of the states.”

NGSS is not the same as the Common Core State Standards, which focus on math and English standards. Also, unlike the earlier roll out of Common Core, states have no federal financial incentives from grants to adopts the NGSS, so it’s completely voluntary. (The Every Student Succeeds Act, passed by Congress last year, removed those earlier financial incentives, though most states have chosen to keep the higher Common Core standards rather than revert). Specifically in New Hampshire, local school districts also aren’t forced to implement BOE policy.

“States should be developing their own standards,” Gass told NH Journal. “There’s no reason why New Hampshire couldn’t develop standards better than NGSS standards.”

However, even the discussion of reviewing the science standards is leading to ambiguity in cities and towns about the BOE’s commitment to the standards, said board member Helen Honorow at the meeting.

The Department of Education circulated a draft document about the status of the science standards, which was not approved by the BOE, leading to confusion in her city of Nashua, she said.

The Nashua Board of Education voted Tuesday to greenlight a pilot of the science standards in their schools, instead of delaying implementation while the state debates the issue.

Board President George Farrington called the delay a form of “political maneuvering.”

“For the last 18 months, I’ve heard, ‘Concord can’t tell us what to do,’ and now we have a change in leadership in Concord and we have to wait for the ‘white smoke’ up there to see what we can do,” he said. “The teachers are here tonight, and they’re saying, ‘This is what we want to do,’ and we’re saying, ‘We need to check it out because we’re better informed about it.’ “

The Nashua board passed a motion to allow a pilot program for the 2017-2018 academic year and the school would not formally adopt the standards until the conclusion and evaluation of the pilot.

Over 90 percent of New Hampshire school districts reported in November that they were already on the path to implementing NGSS.

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A Democratic member of the state’s highest council is quickly becoming one of the fiercest critics of Gov. Chris Sununu’s agenda. Andru Volinsky, one of the two Democrats sitting on the five-member Executive Council, has been the most vocal about the differences in ideology between him and the governor, especially when it comes to education.

Volinsky, D-Concord, did not support Frank Edelblut’s nomination to be the next state education commissioner. During Edelblut’s nomination hearing in January, Volinsky pushed back on his background in public education and religious views.

The most tense exchange between the two men was over the fact that Edelblut sat on the board of Patrick Henry College, a private Christian liberal arts school in Virginia, and the the school had an “oath of faith” that all of its “agents” needed to sign, which included a belief in creationism over evolution.

“You will be the chief educator to whom all of the science teachers in our state will report. Do you subscribe to this such that the science teachers need to worry about whether you will require creationism to be taught alongside evolution?” Volinsky asked.

He treated his questioning of Edelblut like a court-room cross-examination, using poster board and an easel to showcase his points.

His long questioning at one point drew a rebuke from two of his Republican colleagues on the council, David Wheeler and Russell Prescott, who chastised him for taking too long and accused him of grandstanding. Edelblut, who previously made an unsuccessful bid to be the Republican gubernatorial nominee in 2016, was ultimately confirmed on a 3-2 vote that fell on party lines.

Volinsky also recently criticized Edelblut for not disclosing a $1,000 donation he made to the Croydon School Board’s legal defense fund in a school choice lawsuit brought on by the N.H. Department of Education, which he now has influence over as state education commissioner.

The state education department sued to block the town of Croydon’s practice of using public funds to pay private school tuition for some of its children. The dispute helped spur legislation, known as the “Croydon bill,” that would make the tuition practice explicitly legal.

Edelblut’s disclosure came after the Valley News reported that Croydon rejected a request to reveal the names of the donors to the $23,000 fund and Edelblut, for two weeks, declined to answer questions about his role.

Volinsky emailed Edelblut earlier this month to ask that he make public whether he had contributed to Croydon and to explain why he had not disclosed the donation previously.

“I contributed $1,000 to the Croydon legal defense fund,” Edelblut said in a reply email. “The contribution was made anonymously. I prefer the focus to stay on the cause and not draw attention to myself.”

Volinsky said he doesn’t think Edelblut’s contribution was a crime, but he should be more transparent about any potential conflict of interests.

“I was troubled by the fact that Mr. Edelblut did not respond to this request for disclosure and then reading his response, I’m equally concerned because he said the reason for anonymity was that he did not want to interfere with the cause,” Volinsky told NH1 News. “Think about it. He was running for governor. And the private schools [were] part of his platform. So he was already in the middle of this, number one. And number two, he’s describing the diversion of public funds to private schools as a cause for him. That is contrary to his testimony that he was merely an implementer, and it doesn’t speak well for him being candid during his confirmation process.”

He also said that he was concerned the new commissioner was seeking to further his own “agenda” rather than implement policy created by others. He tweeted, “Ed [Commissioner] secretly helped fund Croydon to support his ’cause’ — diverting public funds to pay for private schools. #edelblutagenda #nhpolitics”

Ed Commr secretly helped fund Croydon to support his "cause"-diverting public funds to pay for private schools. #edelblutagenda #nhpolitics

— Andru Volinsky (@AndruVolinsky) March 16, 2017

It’s not surprising to see Volinsky come strongly out against Sununu’s education agenda. Volinsky is a lawyer who litigated landmark state education cases before the New Hampshire Supreme Court, and he ran for his seat on the Executive Council with the campaign promise to protect public school funding. Sununu has long been an advocate for school choice.

Volinsky’s comments about the “Edelblut agenda” have made waves in the conservative Twitter community, that sought to take his own words and discuss how the “Volinsky agenda” is bad for New Hampshire.

There is a 3-2 GOP majority on the EC.
Time for GOP Councilors to shut down the #VolinskyAgenda — EC not his personal soapbox#nhpolitics https://t.co/vbDQeJYipN

— Ed Mosca (@RealEdMosca) March 17, 2017

#VolinskyAgenda – ELITE private #schoolchoice for the wealthy; crappy public schools for the peasant children of #NH #NHPolitics

— Kimberly Morin (@Conservativeind) March 18, 2017

Volinsky then responded, reclaiming the term as his own and saying what he supports in his own education agenda.

#VolinskyAgenda-strong pub schools, basic healthcare=human rt, humans cause climate change & reduce inc inequality 2 preserve democracy

— Andru Volinsky (@AndruVolinsky) March 17, 2017

Liberals and Democrats online rallied behind Volinsky’s agenda, posting why they agree and support him.

My favorite part of the #VolinskyAgenda? Well pretty much all of it. & also that it likely comes w. evidence, facts, footnotes, & citations.

— Brittany Pye (@stillbpye) March 17, 2017

#VolinskyAgenda is: Good Schools, Climate Change, Universal Access to Healthcare and Reducing Income Inequality. I support this agenda❤️

— Sue Donnelly (@Susanhdon) March 17, 2017

Good schools with well-paid teachers who don’t worry about the security of their pensions#VolinskyAgenda

— Sherry Frost (@frostnhstaterep) March 17, 2017

Volinsky even gave a speech about his agenda at to the New Hampshire State Teachers Association on March 17.

“Every morning with coffee I read my emails and my twitter feeds come through. This morning, some troll tweeted that Edelblut did nothing wrong and my complaints were only part of the #VolinskyAgenda,” he said. “I don’t respond to these things, but thought, the #VolinskyAgenda, huh? So, yea, I have an agenda. The #VolinskyAgenda is good schools, climate change, universal access to healthcare and reducing income inequality. That’s my damned agenda.”

Although it’s only been nearly four months since Sununu’s inauguration, many people are behind Volinsky’s agenda, which could possibly set him up for support for a gubernatorial bid in 2018 if he wanted to run.

It’s not often that Executive Councilors run for the corner office. The five-member regulatory board is charged with overseeing the administrative functions of the state government. The Executive Council advises the governor and provides the check for state contracts. The council also has veto power over pardons and state agency nominations by the governor.

For the first time in recent memory, the 2016 gubernatorial nominees were both Executive Councilors. Sununu was from Newfields in District 3 and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Colin Van Ostern of Concord sat in the District 2 seat.

With the council getting more public attention, it’s possible that Granite Staters could see more Executive Councilors running for higher office, and Volinsky could potentially be the next candidate.

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