From ‘A Book, an Idea and a Goat,’ Andru Volinsky’s weekly newsletter on Substack is primarily devoted to writing about the national movement for fair school funding and other means of effecting social change. Here’s the link: https://substack.com/@andruvolinsky?utm_source=profile-page
By Andru Volinsky
It’s here. ‘The Last Bake Sale,’ is available for pre-release sales. If you like my writing on this Substack column, you’ll love my book (well, except the black-hearted souls who worked so hard to oppose a fair system of funding schools).
My book, is available for pre-release sale. Here’s how to get your early copy.
Buy The Last Bake Sale book here.
Bob Kim of the Education Law Center in New Jersey pegs The Last Bake Sale as “a must read for parents, educators, policymakers, journalists, and advocates….”
My dear friend Becky Rule, who will appear with me for my first author talk at Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord on April 2d at 6:30, says, “Wow, just wow.” (Becky’s like that.)
The book has been thirty years in the making.
It all started when my running buddy (and constitutional law professor) Arpy Saunders approached me in the locker room of the Concord Y to help him form a legal team. Our goal was to support the Claremont School Board provide a quality education for the children of Claremont without bankrupting the city’s taxpayers. This was no small task in tax averse NH! Tom Connair, who was then the chair of the school board, was instrumental in organizing the decades long effort.
The story of the Claremont school funding suit takes place in a national context of Supreme Court precedents but it is about the individual consequences of how we treat our children and our taxpayers. How we do school funding affects how we do housing. Do you live in an aging state? Must school populations always decline? Fixing school funding starts a state on fixing a number of other problems.
In my first formal book review, The Library Journal wrote:
“VERDICT An essential addition to any library’s collection, particularly those focusing on education policy or social justice. Its relevance extends beyond New Hampshire, addressing issues that affect schools across the United States, and is valuable to educators, students, activists, and general readers interested in understanding educational inequality.”
Buy The Last Bake Sale here.
The Book Fund
The Last Bake Sale is more than a book. It’s a mission.
While I’ll be selling books and giving talks at independent bookstores, this won’t reach the parts of our state (and other states) most hurt by unfair school funding. What I’d like to do, if you’ll help me, is go to these parts of New Hampshire (and other states) and give away copies of The Last Bake Sale. You can donate to the Book Fund when you buy a book at our website or you can forward a check to my law firm: 160 Law, PLLC (Book Fund), PO Box 1181, Concord, NH 03302. The community non-profit, WNHN, has agreed to act as the fiscal agent for the Book Fund.
Contribute to the Book Fund here.
Author Talks
Invite me to your bookstore (in NH or elsewhere) or your community gathering to talk about The Last Bake Sale. (I also like to teach about how school funding really works.)
Contact me at: andruvolinsky@gmail.com.
Scheduled Talks:
April 2, 6:30 p.m. Gibson’s Bookstore, Concord, NH
April 10, 7:00 p.m. Water Street Bookstore, Exeter, NH
April 12, 11 a.m. Balin Bookstore, Nashua, NH
April 26, 11 a.m. Toadstool Bookshop, Peterborough, NH
May 1, 7:30 a.m. Henniker Rotary, Henniker, NH
Please keep reading this Substack. I’ll keep posting about public policy issues and update you on the pending education funding lawsuits and about my book.
Thank you for your help and support. Change is possible.
Share my website: LastBakeSalebook.com.