What is the End Goal?

These are the remaining problems that need resolving that I can see:

People want taxes to pay for those who can't help themselves and have serious needs, such as ambulance, food, and education.

The counter argument is that if a town is generous enough to vote to have their money taken by force to aid those in need, they will also be generous voluntarily. Caring for the poor is a requirement in some religions such as Christianity. Also, respecting property rights is what rewards people for growing the pie of wealth, so that necessities become cheaper and more plentiful.

There are cases where the fire department will let a house burn down if the property owner has not paid taxes, so the system we have isn't really a safety net anyway.


Another reason for government force is to make people act safely to avoid potential harm. This principle is applied in fire, police, building, and planning regulations.

The reality is the government does not and can not care about your needs like you can. They will not work as hard as private people or industries to discover safer ways of doing things. For example, workplace deaths were decreasing before the establishment of OSHA, but the decrease slowed down after it. Really this is a question if liability. If you harm someone, you pay. That means you care more about the results than just what the regulation says. If you don't want to risk paying, you do things safely or get them to sign a waiver, and they make the informed choice for themselves.


Another reason people want government force is to investigate real crimes with real victims. This includes police and fire marshal powers.

However, the investigation should not be a crime in and of itself. Police powers must be carefully defined in both scope and direction. They are no where near where they ought to be now.


Another issue is conflict with competitors. Who gets the last word? What if another police agency disagrees?

This one has been dealt with by many libertarian philosophers. Interpersonal conflict is the result of a disagreement on boundaries. By having clear boundaries with the non-aggression principle, this will alleviate some problems. After that there is arbitration. There are historical examples of this working. Getting there may be a challenge.


Another reason government is demanded is monopoly powers on things such as roads.

The first rule with roads is easement rights. Everyone who lives down the road has to have obtained the right to use it by having moved down it. How is the maintenance paid for? Possibilities include tolls for major roads and HOAs for local streets.

One question brought up during the meeting was how would shares be allocated to renters who are not directly paying property tax?

Even if they do not get shares, they will still benefit from likely lower rent as their landlords no longer are forced to pay taxes, and they can spend that money on the privatized government companies or their competitors as they like.

The majority of our taxes go to education.

About 2.5 million for 154 kids per year, or about $16,000 per kid.

We are in a cooperative, which means representatives of our town and another four can make binding decisions on how much we will pay them. Cooperatives are not easy to get out of. You basically need their permission to leave, and we would still be liable for our part of their debts even though we wouldn't benefit.

If we were to leave the cooperative, the children would still need a good education.

This could take the form of a town public school that would still be costly.

Croyden was able to get out of their agreement, and the benefit was parents got to choose which nearby public schools. The parents got a little more choice and the cost went down about $1,000. That's an improvement.

A bill has been submitted to dissolve the cooperatives. We will be looking for more information in January. trackbill.com/bill/new-hampshire-legislative-service-request-2840-relative-to-the-dissolution-and-repeal-of-cooperative-school-districts/2143187/

UPDATE: STATE HB 607 TO ALLOW TOWNS TO CREATE EDUCATION FREEDOM ACCOUNTS: p2a.co/2eUm1nX

It's good to know that we are taxed per child we send. So the fewer children attend, the lower our taxes will be.

The next question is what are the alternatives parents can turn to?

VLACS (https://vlacs.org/) is an online public charter school that is free to parents. It is the same curriculum as public school, but can be done from home. Even if one parent is not available to supervise the child's education, the cost of supervision for multiple children.would still be much lower than the public schools.

Interestingly, the schools were putting their lesson plans online last year as children were already staying home due to covid. So we are better prepared now than ever to transition.

The majority of the cost goes towards teacher's salaries, and the majority of their time is spent giving lectures that we already have recorded. Children can be learning without the distractions of the classroom and social drama, and can learn at their own pace. More than this, the highest quality lectures can be picked every single time, so the quality of education can keep going up--for free.

If parents want a more tailored approach, there is an abundance of free or cheap high quality education online. Pearson's, Khan academy... Children can pursue their own passions and pick topics that are going to better suit them for the real world.

Often, homeschool parents will form groups and create libraries of their used curriculum, so it may be possible to get all of your textbooks for free. Millbrook Christian Fellowship church has a library, and can be contacted to arrange a visit.

Then there are the new Education Freedom Accounts. Part of our tax dollars go to the state to then go to the school. The state is giving parents with income is less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level ($79,500 for a family of 4) the option of putting that money toward a different source of education besides the public school. This would mean they could hire tutors, enroll their child in classes, or in private school. The amount would average about $4,600 per student per year. That is at least a dramatic reduction in taxes.

There are countless options available for education--unschooling, homeschooling, tutoring, co-honeschooling, hybrid (a tutor one day a week teaches a class, and the students complete the lessons on their own), private school, or a mix of the above.

Local support such as the Millbrook library, local homeschool groups, state groups such as granitestatehomeeducators.org/, and legal groups such as HSLDA plus the countless forums, online learning resources, and homeschool curriculum make the transition to homeschool so much easier.

What is our strategy to reduce taxes while improving education?

Step 1. Educate local parents on their options

Step 2. Grow their options by increasing the number of local tutors, classes, and groups

Step 3. Work through our school district representatives and those of the other members to lower costs and debts

Step 4. Pass good legislation that will allow us to dissolve the cooperative


"School failed me, and I failed the school. It bored me. The teachers behaved like Feldwebel (sergeants). I wanted to learn what I wanted to know, but they wanted me to learn for the exam. What I hated most was the competitive system there, and especially sports. Because of this, I wasn't worth anything, and several times they suggested I leave. This was a Catholic School in Munich. I felt that my thirst for knowledge was being strangled by my teachers; grades were their only measurement. How can a teacher understand youth with such a system?" - Albert Einstein


Teachers are exhausted: money.yahoo.com/stretched-too-thin-staff-exhausted-115710003.html