New Hampshire continues its search for a way to pay for schools without actually paying for them. Under court order to eliminate the funding gap between rich and poor towns, lawmakers last spring enacted a statewide property tax, but the court struck that down, ruling that the phased-in approach perpetuated the inequity. Plan B — a modest income tax — failed in the legislature last week. The Granite State’s fundamental problem is that it’s taking the concept of free public education too literally.

A new poll taken by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that 81 percent of Americans are hopeful for the future. The same poll, with the same group of respondents, found that 64 percent believe there will be a major terrorist attack on the United States involving biological or chemical weapons and that 63 percent expect a global energy crisis. The poll did not ask how many Americans understand the meaning of the word “hopeful.”

In an investigation of how the Air Force Academy came to spend $308,000 renovating the kitchen of the superintendent’s residence — work that was pitched as merely improving ventilation, adding more lighting and replacing a broken refrigerator — the Air Force Audit Agency also discovered the academy paid $40,000 to enlarge a bedroom by one foot and $14,000 to convert the charcoal barbecue to gas. The audit agency’s conclusion, that “some of the cost growth appeared avoidable,” is the only understatement connected with the entire project.

Not to be outdone in the wise expenditure of the taxpayers’ money, the Army spent $50.6 million for 6,700 two-wheeled trailers that cannot be pulled by the jeeps and trucks they were designed to be pulled by. And the Army wants to buy 18,000 more. That’s nearly $200 million for roughly 25,000 useless trailers. Maybe there’ll be a few available to haul Maine veterans to decent health care once Togus is finally closed.

With passenger rail service between between Boston and Portland due to start next year, isn’t it a bit late for the experts still to be arguing about whether the track is safe? Federal transportation officials say the rail bed is solid enough for the 79 mph speeds needed to make trains an attractive alternative cars. Critics say it’s not. Technology may be constantly changing, but most folks thought we had this Iron Horse thing pretty well figured out.