
MANCHESTER, N.H. – Former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig was joined by Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear at the Manchester Education Association’s (MEA) office on Thursday, urging local teachers to help her become governor so she can fight for public education.
Craig and Beshear were introduced by MEA President Sue Hannan and National Education Association – New Hampshire President Megan Tuttle, with both praising Craig’s commitment to public education.
Hannan recalled Craig’s time as mayor and referred to her as a tremendous leader, stating that things improved under her tenure. Conversely, Tuttle hoped for an elected official to appoint an education commissioner that would have the same amount of cooperative spirit at the state level, stating that current New Hampshire Department of Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut is opposed to the concept of public education.

“We have a choice, we can enable people like our current education commissioner in attacking our schools and our educators like he does on a regular basis, or we can come together and choose the path of supporting our educators, like Joyce Craig is going to do for us, and solve the educator shortage in our state,” said Tuttle.
Tuttle added that increased funding of what is known as the Education Freedom Accounts in New Hampshire, providing public dollars to families for private school enrollment, would create budget crises comparable to those in Indiana and Arizona.
Beshear said that he was battling a constitutional amendment that would allow similar programs in Kentucky, also praising Craig and attacking Ayotte.
“Kelly Ayotte has sold in and sold out to these big corporations that want to take public education dollars,” he said.

Craig also echoed the attacks on Ayotte and Edelblut, promising that she will fire him on the first day of her administration, something she has said repeatedly on the campaign trail.
She also talked about how she started her political career as a board of school committee member and during her term as mayor led the Manchester School District to its first-ever K-12 curriculum, increased professional development and a class size cap.
“(and) we were able to do that despite the downshifting form our state because (New Hampshire) is not adequately funding public schools,” she added.