Politics & Government
DOE Chooses $593,000 Bid over $324,000 Bid
High bid was lowest ranked, but from a prominent donor
The NH Department of Education selected a $593,000 bid over a $324,000 bid to set up a quality control system for Vocational Rehabilitation. Founder of the winning Stephen Group is two-time Republican Congressional candidate John Stephen, a Sununu campaign donor. His firm's proposal earned 81 points in review vs.the lower bid's 83 points for UMass Med School Commonwealth Medicine. A closed-door interview with each group led to the choice.
This is hardly the first questionable decision made by this administration around education. The Commissioner of Education, appointed by Governor Sununu, has a master's degree in divinity and no other administrative experience. The chair of the NH School Board, appointed by Governor Sununu, is a journalist who directs the conservative think tank Josiah Bartlett Center. The new voucher law, just signed by the governor in the budget, explicitly denies the state any oversight or quality control of that program, open to for-profit suppliers. In fact, the program assigns fox-in-the-henhouse oversight to the organization taking a 10% cut on all spending and select recipients of the funds.
More details at: http://indepthnh.org/2021/07/0...