Nikki Haley talks education at Manchester campaign stop

MANCHESTER, NH – As the days dwindle to the conclusion of the New Hampshire Republican Primary, former South Carolina Governor and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley talked school choice with local parents, educators, and students at Polaris Charter School on Friday morning.

While Polaris Chairman Don Winterton joked that the tables were arrayed in a rectangle, the event held a “roundtable-style” discussion, with comments from Winterton, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu and Haley followed by questions and comments from the assembled guests, followed by a tour of the school.

Haley stated that while she is not opposed to public schools, she echoed Sununu in her support of parents having choices, hoping to support making school vouchers to all Americans. She also stated the growth of charter schools would raise teacher salaries by providing more competition for their services.

“Every (student) is uniquely special, every one of them learns differently, every one of them has a different interest, every one of them studies differently, every one of them responds differently, and we need to treat them like that,” she said. “For too long, education has been managed by mandating a child to a ZIP code.”

Haley also noted that she feels that classrooms need more transparency and felt that the federal government should leave most functions of education to state and local governments as well as teachers and local administrators, believing that different parts of the country will have different educational needs and people living in those areas will know how to best meet those needs.

“I think our goal should be to bring resources down to the state level and provide educational money that no longer has strings attached,” she said. “So, when I say I want to see vocational classes in every high school, vocational classes in South Carolina would be very different than vocational classes in New Hampshire, so that’s why the states need to decide what (funding) looks like.”

All of the students, educators and parents were generally supportive of Haley’s comments, with Sununu responding to the struggles he heard from some of the parents as reasons why an increase in public school alternatives are warranted.

“This is exactly why I like Nikki’s ideas, because so much of this is mandated by the feds, a lot of the money funding schools comes from the federal government and there are so many strings attached. You can do this, you can’t do that, you can’t say that,” said Sununu. “So the idea that you have someone say ‘you’re in New Hampshire, here (is the money), do it. You’re in South Carolina, do South Carolina. You’re in California, do California.”

The event was one of several on the day for Haley, beginning with earlier events in Newfields and Hampton, with later events followed in Amherst and Milford and a rally in the evening elsewhere in Manchester