The state Department of Education is drawing criticism again from educators and some lawmakers for renewing its partnership with PragerU, a conservative media nonprofit, to provide online instruction to students for high school credit.
In addition to concerns about the organization’s right-wing political agenda and often-skewed educational content, education advocates said the approved financial literacy course is inadequate in content and quantity of instruction to qualify as a for-credit course.
“Throughout his tenure, Commissioner (Frank) Edelblut’s agenda has been focused on weakening public schools, which are attended by nearly 90% of Granite State students,” said Megan Tuttle, president of the National Education Association New Hampshire chapter, in an email.
“The renewal of a contract with an ideological profit-based entity to serve as a replacement for in-classroom financial literacy instruction is just another example of the Edelblut agenda that illustrates what’s at stake in the elections this fall,” Tuttle wrote.
On Sept. 16, the State Board of Education voted unanimously to approve a five-year renewal with PragerU Kids to offer its online personal finance course, titled Cash Course, as part of the state’s Learn Everywhere program, which allows students to earn high school credits through state-approved extracurricular programs.
The renewal extends a partnership that the board initially approved in September 2023 with PragerU for one year.
Crash Course is intended to be an alternative approach to traditional classroom learning, which is not effective with some students, a Department of Education spokesperson said.
The online course consists of 15 videos, averaging five minutes apiece, on topics that include employment wages and benefits, budgeting, income taxes, types of investment accounts and managing credit and debt.
A 32-question summative assessment is taken at the end of the course, according to PragerU’s renewal application to the board. A student must answer at least 26 questions correctly to receive a certificate of completion, which may be redeemed for academic credit.
“The commissioner of education, for the last eight years, has been focused on creating quality opportunities for students to have bright futures,” the education department spokesperson explained in an email.
But many educators and lawmakers question whether Prager’s online course provides enough information and instruction to constitute a sufficient education in personal finance — or to merit half an academic credit, which is typically earned by completing a semester-long course.
“There is a huge difference between a 60-hour semester-long course on financial literacy and 75 minutes of videos,” said John Pelletier, director of the Center of Financial Literacy at Champlain College in Burlington, Vt.
“Would (the New Hampshire Board of Education) call 75 minutes of videos an adequate course for driver’s education?” Pelletier asked.
The State Board of Education also received strong pushback last year from educators, parents and other members of the public due largely to PragerU’s other video content. The organization, co-founded by conservative pundit Dennis Prager, frequently produces videos for children and adults that feature right-leaning viewpoints on topics that include climate change, LGBTQ and immigration.
Educators and lawmakers said they do not object to the Cash Course content, which provides accurate information in an objective and straightforward manner.
But five-minute videos on complex topics such as investing and retirement planning are, at best, supplemental learning materials, as opposed to a replacement for a substantive, semester-long course, Pelletier said.
“For the (Board of Education) to say that these two are equivalent is an insult to the state legislators, the governor and to educators all across the country,” Pelletier said.
New Hampshire is one of 26 states in the country that are on track to require schools to provide instruction in personal finance literacy by 2031, said Pelletier, whose center provides resources to help educators nationwide create financial literacy programs.
New Hampshire lawmakers passed a bill in 2022, HB 1263, making personal finance literacy a requirement in school curricula. The law took effect last school year.
Rep. Rick Ladd, R-Haverhill, chairman of the House Education Committee, said too many New Hampshire students are graduating without a basic understanding of essential personal finances, from budgeting to balancing a checkbook.
“Too many students coming out of high school do not have an awareness of what they will face financially in the real world,” Ladd said in an interview.
The law gives schools flexibility to decide how to deliver this instruction, which could include creating a self-contained personal finance course or embedding the curriculum into other courses, such as math or an economics elective, Ladd explained.
Under House Bill 1263, each school district must develop competencies and curriculum for personal finance literacy that align the state’s academic standards. The State Board of Education approved a set of standards for financial literacy at its meeting in September.
These standards must receive approval next from the Legislative Oversight Committee, which was scheduled to review them, along with new proposed educational rule changes, on Oct. 17.
Some lawmakers worry that the board acted prematurely by extending the PragerU course before academic standards are finalized.
“Public schools haven’t been able to use the course for long enough to provide (adequate) feedback on it,” said Rep. David Luneau, D-Hopkinton, a member of the House Education Committee and Joint Legislative Oversight Committee.
Members of the education committee are also concerned that Commissioner Edelblut’s proposed rule changes would make personal finance literacy a graduation requirement, which goes against the law passed by the legislature, Luneau said in an interview.
School districts that are already financially stretched might feel compelled to enroll students in the PragerU course, which is free, rather than increase their budgets to staff a course in-house, Luneau said.
“Watching videos online is clearly not education,” Luneau said. “It’s not even close to the rigor (and content) that a public school course would offer.”
The national standards for financial literacy, developed jointly by the Council for Economic Education and Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, spans over 40 pages and provides academic standards and learning outcomes for students in grades 4 through 12. Pelletier, who cited this as an example of an ideal curriculum model for finance literacy, said 75 minutes of videos is about 4% of the instructional time that a semester-long course would provide.
“It feels as if the Board of Education is trying to take a substantial educational requirement (by the Legislature) and are turning it into a nothing-burger,” Pelletier said.
The Department of Education said the PragerU partnership is intended to expand learning opportunities in financial literacy, not to undermine the Legislature’s goal.
“PragerU Kids Cash Course, as one of those very successful alternative educational opportunities, has received positive feedback from its Learn Everywhere participants,” the department spokesperson said. “Financial literacy is a crucial life skill (and) students with the tools to manage their finances early helps them to become financially successful adults.”
As of last month, 37 students in New Hampshire had enrolled in Cash Course, including 11 who have passed the course, 23 who are in progress toward completion and three who have dropped the course, Dzana Homan, director of education and education outreach at PragerU Kids, told the board at its meeting Sept. 16.
Seven of nine students who participated in a post-course survey said that they found the course an effective way to learn and that they were satisfied with the content.
In survey comments, two students suggested updating the curricular content to show how changing economic conditions are impacting young adults or the ways that people make personal finance decisions.
New Hampshire is one of several states that have approved PragerU as an education program vendor. Other states include Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Montana, Oklahoma and Texas.
