Durham Resident Responds to Criticism of his Facts

Durham resident Roger Speidel responding to recent criticism regarding his facts and Finland.

Apparently there are people who aren't aware that the Oyster River Schools offered a film last fall about the school system in Finland. It was to inform the public about the excellent quality of Finland's education. 

There have been public responses to three facts I reported in my Dec. 21 Community Commentary. I made no claims; each item I stated is a fact, carefully researched. A claim is a statement as a fact of something that may be called into question. And I never used the word mediocre in that message.

New Hampshire, 28th in the nation in education: "Education Week." Contact them for their methodology.

The number 3 and number 4 ranked high schools in America: "US News and World Report". Contact them for their methodology, also.

The percentage of Oyster River seniors going on to 4-year colleges: "The New Hampshire Department of Education." Go to their website.

Now that that is clear, let's see how the Oyster River school system is really performing.

1. The "No Child Left Behind" testing. Oyster River is now "A District in Need of Improvement."

2. The "New England Assessment" testing. (NECAP). The Oyster River School System ranks 18th in the state and one of our elementary schools ranks 60th. That's abysmal.

3. The number of Oyster River seniors going on to 4-year colleges is 68%.

4. In the "College Readiness Index", Oyster River High School ranks a dismal 22.9.

5. In cost per pupil per year, Oyster River spends $15,510. The state average is $12,062. Oyster River's true cost per pupil is $18,500. The reason for this is that the state pulls out debt service, transportation, and food service before reporting per pupil spending amounts.

Now let's compare apples to apples. I'll leave Finland out of the mix, except to ask Mrs. Sowers where she got her information that average class size in Finland is below 20. I spoke with the Embassy of Finland for an hour—- the class size is between 20 and 30. Also, I never mentioned "average districts" as she claims.

The number 3 and 4 ranked High Schools in America average cost per pupil is $11,580. Their average teacher/student ratio is 1 to 25.8. And their "College Readiness Index "is 100. (the highest possible)

The 2011 New Hampshire "Schools of Excellence" average cost per pupil is $11,613 and their teacher/student ratio is 1 to 18.6. Their cost is $449 per pupil less than the State average.

The number 1 county, in the state (Maryland) ranked first in the nation in education has a class size policy in junior and senior high school of 29 students in English, 33 in all other classes and they spend almost $4,000 per pupil less than Oyster River. 

The goal of education is to prepare students for life. After 12 years in the Oyster River School System only 68% of our seniors go on to 4-year colleges. That certainly is not an appropriate return on an $18,500 per pupil per year education. Also, we don't have a vo-tech program so some students cannot learn to be auto mechanics, electricians, etc. (Good jobs!)

To sum up: The Oyster River taxpayers are paying $18,500 per student per year, but our students are not receiving an $18,500 education.

So, the main issue of contention in the entire Oyster River educational community; parents, teachers, students, and taxpayers, is not the budget, or the taxes, or the "cut or not to cut" divide. The main issue is the amount of waste in the Oyster River School District's operation.