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Stacey Lancaster spent his Friday afternoon at work doing a little online shopping.

But the Manchester West High School’s lead NJROTC teacher wasn’t browsing Amazon for deals. According to law enforcement officials, he was working out the details of buying a sexual encounter with a 12-year-old girl. 

Lancaster texted back and forth online with someone offering up two young girls for paid sex. Lancaster was first given the choice of the 12-year-old but seemed incredulous at the girl’s photo.

“Did you say she’s 12? Are you being serious? That’s really bad if it’s true,” Lancaster texted after seeing the child’s photo, according to court records.

At this, the pimp offered a 14-year-old girl to Lancaster instead, but Lancaster decided to go with the 12-year-old, and agreed to pay $100. He finished up his work at the high school that afternoon, and a short time later went to the Manchester hotel to meet the pimp and the girl, according to court records. 

In the hotel parking lot, Lancaster frisked the pimp to make sure there was no hidden police microphone, and then proceeded to close the deal. That’s when agents with Homeland Security Investigations and Manchester Police moved in, taking Lancaster into custody on attempted sex trafficking charges.

The now-unemployed Lancaster, 46, is one of five men busted in recent days as part of a proactive law enforcement investigation operated by HSI agents. According to court records and an interview with United States Attorney Jane Young, HSI agents set up a fake service online catering to men seeking sex with children in order to stop child sex trafficking.

“Law enforcement is going to pursue every avenue to make sure the communities in New Hampshire are safe from all forms of crime,” Young said. “This is exactly what law enforcement should be doing. They should be applauded for that work.”

Along with Lancaster, agents arrested Arthur Picanco, 42, of Bradford, Mass., Ozeias Luiz Guilherme, 38, of Haverhill, Mass., Sharath Chandra Boll, 23, of Chelmsford, Mass., and Koteshwara Raju Jonnagodda, 24, of Chelmsford, Mass..

All of the men found an advertisement HSI agents placed on a website known to attract men looking for sex with children, Young said, though she declined to specify the name of the site. An undercover agent acted as the online pimp to set up deals with the men, directing them to the Manchester hotel for the in-person encounter. 

Young said some details, like the name of the website and the hotel, are not being disclosed in order to protect the investigation, and potential future investigations as well.

Young declined to answer when asked about the immigration status of the suspects from Massachusetts. She did acknowledge that immigration status is taken into account by her office, and the appropriate laws are followed. 

The men were held in jail over the weekend and on Monday, Lancaster had a detention hearing in the United States District Court in Concord. Judge Andrea Johnstone ruled Lancaster could be released on several conditions including no access to children or the internet, and submitting to home confinement. Lancaster, who is married, will be placed under house arrest in his mother’s home.

Manchester school officials have said there’s no indication Lancaster preyed on any children in the district. The 24-year Navy veteran began teaching within the last year at the school’s NJROTC program. He also served as the district’s liaison with the United States Navy. Lancaster has no prior criminal history, according to statements made in court.

Manchester School District practices a controversial policy of refusing to answer questions from parents about their own children’s behavior related to sex and gender, encouraging teachers and students to keep secrets from moms and dads. While the New Hampshire Supreme Court upheld the right of the district to follow the policy, criticism has continued.

In the wake of Lancaster’s arrest, some GOP lawmakers plan to act.

“I have already filed the ‘Honesty and Transparency in Education Act’ this year,” said state Sen. Tim Lang (R-Sanbornton). “This bill passed the Senate with ease, and I suspect it will again.”

The legislation, which was killed by Democrats in the House last year, would require all school employees to respond honestly and completely to written requests by parents regarding information relating to their children.

“My arguments remain the same: Schools and teachers have no business keeping secrets from parents,” Lang said. “Schools have pushed parents aside for too long now, it’s time for the legislature to clearly put parents back in charge of their children’s lives.”

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.

Lionheart Academy is pushing back on founder Fred Ward’s concerns that the school is in financial trouble, touting a new audit and an anonymous $5 million pledge. 

Ward, who has given $700,000 to the Peterborough school, had attorney Richard Lehmann send a letter Thursday to New Hampshire Board of Education Chair Drew Cline outlining what he sees as red flags. A day after Ward’s letter was sent, however, Lionheart attorney Robert Best sent Cline a response calling Ward’s claim “outrageous.”

“Dr. Ward’s allegations are ill-informed, inaccurate, and frankly, defamatory. The school is shocked and saddened that a founder of the school would work in such a manner to attempt to damage the school,” Best wrote.

According to Best’s letter, the school expects a clean bill of health from the pending audit by the accounting firm of Nathan Wechsler. The school is doing so well, in fact, it anticipates paying off its operating line of credit in the coming months, Best wrote.

Lionheart’s Kimberly Lavallee did not respond to NHJournal’s request for comment on Thursday after Ward’s letter was sent to Cline. Hours after being contacted by NHJournal, the school also announced a pledge for a $5 million endowment from an anonymous donor. 

Best’s letter does not give many details on the $5 million gift. Instead, he focuses on the the school’s self-reported strong financial position. The school spends less per student than other charter schools audited by Nathan Wechsler, Best wrote, and Lionheart does a better job than other Nathan Wechsler charter school clients of attracting donations and grants.

Speaking to NHJournal last week, Ward said the school ran a significant operating deficit since it opened in 2021. His frustrations over the board’s lack of transparency and concern about the school’s future moved him to act, he said.

According to statements Nathan Wechsler accountants made during a board meeting after Ward’s letter was sent, Lionheart spent $7,862 per pupil in its 2024 fiscal year, and received $9,000 per pupil from the state, a surplus of $1,138 per child.

Best wrote the school is heading into 2025 with better than expected finances. 

“Lionheart’s FY25 financial position is ahead of budgeted expectations as of September, 2024,” Best wrote. “Lionheart exceeded its budgeted expectations on a number of revenue streams in FY 2025.”

But the new influx of donated dollars doesn’t address one of the main concerns regarding the school: the lease Lionheart has for its Sharon Road building. According to Ward, former Lionheart Board Chair Barry Tanner negotiated the $24,000-a-month lease with building owner Ophir Sternberg without disclosing he has a potential business relationship with Sternberg.

Sternberg, a Miami-based entrepreneur who resigned as chairman from the nearly bankrupt BurgerFi chain this summer, did not respond to a request for comment. Tanner declined to comment on his relationship with Sternberg.

Sternberg also negotiated naming rights for the school with Tanner. Sternberg owns Lionheart Capital and agreed to a $1 million donation in exchange for the naming rights. However, after making one $100,000 payment on that pledge, Sternberg changed the arrangement.

According to Ward, Sternberg gave the school stock in Lionheart Capital rather than cash. The stocks were locked as part of the agreement, and by the time the school could access the account last year, they were worthless, Ward contends. 

Best’s letter does not address the Sternberg/Tanner relationship, nor does he yet refute the concerns about Sternberg’s $1 million donation. Instead, Best promises a more detailed response soon.

“Lionheart also disagrees with and finds his allegations of poor board oversight or conflict of interest to be equally outrageous. We look forward to providing a more thorough response to those elements of his letter in the coming days,” Best wrote.

Lionheart is one of many new charter schools in New Hampshire that got start-up money from a $46 million federal grant to the state. Lionheart received $1.5 million in 2019 through the grant.

Lionheart uses a classical education curriculum developed by Hillsdale College, a non-denominational Christian school. Kristina Vourax, communications director for Hillsdale’s K-12 Education Office, reached out to NHJournal last week to put some distance between the college and Lionheart. 

“Lionheart is not part of our Member School network, nor do we work with its board or headmaster. In addition, the Hillsdale K-12 Education Office did not assist Lionheart in its founding effort,” Vourax stated in an email. “Lionheart has signed a curriculum license agreement with Hillsdale College to use our K-12 classical curriculum scope and sequence.”

Lionheart Classical Academy (LCA) in Peterborough was supposed to be the refuge for parents and families in the Monadnock region who wanted an escape from a secularized public education where unaccountable bureaucrats rule.

But now, the K-7 charter school is in danger of financial collapse after questionable board deals that were hidden from the public, according to Lionheart founder Fred Ward.

“We have two problems, and they are at war with each other,” Ward said. “We want that school to work. But the thing we’re pissed off at is that, the way they are going, they are going to go bust.”

Lionheart Classical Academy

Lionheart was one of the many tuition-free charter schools that got start-up funding from the state in 2021. A $46 million federal grant for New Hampshire to expand charter schools resulted in $1.5 million for Lionheart. The school officially opened in 2022 with grades K-5, with plans to eventually expand to a K-12 school.

Ward and Lionheart parent Kevin Brace are now calling on the state Board of Education to intervene. Ward’s attorney, Richard Lehmann, sent a letter to BOE Chair Drew Cline on Thursday laying out the alleged history of conflicts of interest, insider dealing, and a board of trustees that kept parents in the dark with illegal, non-public meetings.

“I was just shocked at the incompetence of the board,” Brace said. 

The school takes its name from the investment firm owned by donor and landlord Ophir Sternberg. Sternberg got former board chair Barry Tanner to agree to name the school after his Miami-based Lionheart Capital. Sternberg also owns the Sharon Road building Lionheart leases. The lease agreement obtained by NHJournal shows the base payments started at more than $24,000 a month in 2023, and going up three percent a year as the school uses more space in the building.

But, when the naming rights and lease agreements came together, Tanner hid the fact he was in a business relationship with Sternberg, according to the letter. 

“Dr. Ward and/or others have been told that Tanner and Sternberg together made an offer to acquire the Hancock Inn, in Hancock, New Hampshire when that property was listed for sale in the summer of 2021,” Lehmann wrote.

Tanner made his academy agreements with Sternberg without any transparency or board oversight, according to Lehmann. Reached Thursday, Tanner declined to comment on the letter, saying he has not seen it. He also declined to comment about his alleged business relationship with Sternberg. Tanner said he’s no longer on the board, but said he is still somewhat involved in the school.

“I’m just a fan, I guess you could say,” Tanner said.

Tanner still makes financial donations to the school, but declined to say how much he’s given. Ward, who like Tanner was part of the original founders group, has given $700,000 of his own money to Lionheart.

Sternberg did not respond to a request for comment.

But the lease isn’t the only red flag Ward and Brace see. Sternberg agreed to make a $1 million donation to Lionheart when he was first approached by Tanner. The initial donation was to be paid in $100,000 a month increments. But Sternberg changed the arrangement in 2022 to instead give the school stock in his company worth $1 million.

Sternberg’s stock donation, however, was locked up until the fall of 2023 and the school could not sell, according to the agreement. By the time Lionheart Academy could access the stock, it was worthless, Lehmann wrote. 

“Even though LCA effectively gave away its naming rights for no consideration, the Board appears to have done nothing to address the situation and protect LCA’s interests,” Lehmann wrote.

Brace said he only recently learned about the worthless stock because the board tried to keep the problem quiet for months. Brace has been sending his youngest daughter to Lionheart since it opened and has been an avid Lionheart booster and school volunteer. But he became concerned when Tanner and the rest of the board fired Executive Director Kerry Bedard this summer without explanation.

“I always thought the school was in good hands,” Brace said.

Brace started going to board meetings and was shocked by what he witnessed. The board members refused to answer questions, did not make records of past meetings available in violation of state law, and ignored charter rules about members.

Under the charter, the board is supposed to have two to three members from the professional or educational community, two to three members from the founder or major donors group, and one to two parents. Currently, they have one professional, two donors, and five parents on the board. 

Board Chair Kimberly Lavallee did not respond to a request for comment.

More troubling is the fact the current board has been meeting in secret, communicating about school business through a messaging app, Brace said. Charter schools receive public funding and their boards are subject to the same Right to Know laws as public schools. Other Lionheart parents just now learning about the problems are upset, Brace said.

“They are just appalled at the way the board has conducted itself. We put so much faith and trust in this school,” Brace said.

Ward is worried the financial situation will sink the school he helped create. Lionheart spends about $10,000 per pupil while getting about $9,000 per pupil from the state. Charter schools do not receive any direct funding from local property taxpayers the way public schools do. With about 250 students right now, that means the school is running a deficit of at least $250,000 a year, Ward said.

On top of that, the school’s growth plan is to add a new class every year. Next school year, it will go from a K-7 school to a K-8 school. That will add at least 40 students, increase the operating deficit, and further squeeze the classes. The school library already doubles as a classroom for two separate classes, Ward said.

“The money is running out, the space is running out, and the numbers don’t work,” Ward said.

The current board isn’t saying how it plans to close the financial gap, according to Ward. In the past, it relied on large donors like him. But Ward’s stopped giving and won’t start again until he gets some answers. And he’s telling others to do the same.

“I can’t recommend other people donate until the school cleans up its act,” Ward said.

Ward points to the Sharon Road lease as one of his prime concerns. Lionheart’s lease with Sternberg requires the school to pay for all of its expansion improvements as well as upgrades to the building’s HVAC and plumbing. And all of that expense is on top of the $24,000 a month in rent. However, after making all of the improvements, the school has no written agreement that it will be able to purchase the building outright at any point. 

“The money is going to improve Ophir Sternberg’s building. I’m not going to take money out of my pocket and put it in Sternberg’s pocket,” Ward said.

Ward and Brace want the state to step in and investigate LCA’s finances and its board. They also want the school put on probationary status until the whole picture becomes clear.

“In the face of the apparent conflict of interest, the disadvantageous lease provisions, the failure to address the failure of consideration in the naming transaction, and the failure to ensure that public funds are expended solely to benefit LCA’s public purpose, the need for immediate investigation and potential corrective action by this Board is clear.” Lehmann wrote.

Lehmann’s letter to Cline comes as Lionheart is scheduled to go before the state BOE next week. The school’s board of trustees is seeking approval to change the Lionheart charter to allow more parents on the board, effectively so the board is no longer in violation of its own rules.

Cline did not respond to a request for comment.

Lionheart offers a classical education based on the curriculum plan from Hillsdale College. The conservative, non-denominational Christian college operates the Barney Charter School Initiative to help start up charter schools across the country, or to assist independent charter schools like Lionheart. Lionheart is not a Christian school.

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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During the seven-hour hearing for Frank Edelblut’s nomination as the state education commissioner, there were several comparisons of the former state representative to Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of education.

Edelblut is to NH as DeVos is to US. We can do so much better on both levels. #nhpolitics

— Gerald W.R. Ward (@wardports) January 31, 2017

Both DeVos and Edelblut have little experience with the public school system. They are both strong supporters of school choice.

While Edelblut is a product of public schools himself, he and his wife homeschooled their seven children. Edelblut did receive his bachelor’s degree in business at a public institution, the University of Rhode Island, and eventually received a master’s in theological studies at the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology.

Since 2009, Edelblut has served on the board of the Patrick Henry College Foundation, which is partnered with the evangelical Christian college in Virginia. This affiliation became a contentious point during his hearing between Edelblut and Democratic Executive Councilor Andru Volinsky of Concord. According to the college website, affiliates of the school must attest to a “Statement of Biblical Worldview” and follow “God’s Creative Works,” which is the belief that God created humanity and started with Adam and Eve as the basis for human ancestry.

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

Edelblut said he believes “there are other understandings of human origins.”

“And finally, as the commissioner of education, I will not have jurisdiction or responsibility for the development of curricula,” he said. “That I believe remains in the domain of the science teachers and the local school boards.”

And that’s where advocates for Edelblut believe that his lack of public education experience could be one of his biggest strengths.

With Gov. Chris Sununu’s nomination of his former Republican gubernatorial primary rival (Edelblut came in a close second, only losing by about 800 votes), it signals a departure from previous state education commissioners, who all had some sort of public education experience. It was a point Volinsky wanted to make, by reading the resumes of every education commissioner for the past 40 years.

But Sununu doesn’t want another career educator in the driver’s seat. He wants Edelblut, a businessman, to be in charge of this billion dollar industry. Many opponents don’t like that he’s against Common Core and is pro-charter schools. And they say he’s looking to “destroy public education.”

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said. “I want to see public education work well for all students. My job will be to implement the policies of the state board of education.”

The state board of education sets policy, curriculum, and standards for the public schools in the state. While the state education commissioner plays a role in the process, it’s ultimately not up to him to make those decisions.

Edelblut said he supported outgoing education commissioner Virginia Barry’s focus on “personalized learning.”

“Home education is personalized learning,” he said. “It recognizes that each individual student is unique, that they develop differently and at different paces.”

The same sentiments could be found in DeVos’s confirmation hearing earlier this month.

“Parents no longer believe that a one-size-fits-all model of learning meets the needs of every child,” she told the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. “And they know other options exist, whether magnet, virtual, charter, home, faith-based or any other combination.”

DeVos attended a private high school in Michigan and also received a bachelor’s in business from Calvin College. Her four children all went to private school and although she has never worked in a school, she is very philanthropic toward school systems that she personally supports. She backs school choice and school vouchers, allowing students to attend private schools with taxpayer support.

DeVos has been one of the most contentious cabinet nominees for Trump. But it can be argued that Trump and Sununu are looking at education in a similar manner. Trump sees DeVos as a strong advocate for school choice and able to use the budget for the education department to make education better for all students.

Both DeVos and Edelblut don’t necessarily have that much power when it comes to changing policy in the positions they will likely hold. They help set the agenda, but ultimately, any changes go through Congress and the states, and in New Hampshire, that means through the state board of education and the Legislature.

It’s no surprise that Trump and Sununu are facing a lot pushback on their respective nominees for education. After all, Sununu was one of Trump’s supporters during the presidential race, his support never wavering. But many supporters of the two politicians appreciate the comparison of Edelblut and DeVos. They both symbolize change and a departure from the Democratic “status-quo,” they have felt for the past eight years in D.C. and 12 years in the Granite State.

The people of New Hampshire should expect more similarities between the federal government and New Hampshire (or with Sununu and Trump) to pop up during the next two years.

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