Earlier today, the New Hampshire Supreme Court issued its opinion in Contoocook Valley School District v. State of New Hampshire. Natalie Laflamme and John Tobin, co-authors of an amicus brief […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the education of New Hampshire’s 163,000 public school students and has put them at risk for lasting setbacks to their educational, emotional, and social development. […]
Earlier today, the Commission to Study School Funding approved its final report to the New Hampshire Legislature and to Governor Chris Sununu. In the main, the substance of the Commission’s work – and, in particular, the research conducted on its behalf by the American Institutes for Research – have set a solid foundation on which to build a more fair and more sustainable system for funding New Hampshire’s public schools.
The November 22 draft report of the Commission to Study School Funding reflects considerable progress toward the fulfillment of the Commission’s statutory responsibilities and, more importantly, toward devising a more equitable and sustainable system for funding New Hampshire’s public schools. Nevertheless, five key changes to the draft report could strengthen it significantly prior to the Commission’s final vote on November 30.
As long as New Hampshire continues to rely upon disparate property tax rates as the chief means of funding public education, meaningful local control will remain out of reach for many school districts.
For Granite Staters struggling in the face of inequitable educational opportunities and disparate property tax rates, the work of the Commission to Study School Funding to date offers reason for hope, but also cause for concern.
In partnership with a number of educational and civic organizations from across New Hampshire, NHSFFP has developed a set of principles to inform the deliberations of the Commission to Study School Funding and to provide a framework for evaluating the recommendations that it offers.
NHSFFP offers its perspective on the critical questions still before the Commission to Study School Funding as its December 1 deadline approaches.
With a Supreme Court decision and a final commission report coming soon, the public debate about school funding and the next Legislature’s responsibilities will likely become clearer and more intense. In the meantime, as the election nears, voters will have the opportunity to ask legislative and gubernatorial candidates where they stand on this issue and to urge them to finally resolve this problem fairly and comprehensively.
On behalf of hundreds of Granite State residents, the NH School Funding Fairness Project (NHSFFP) on Monday, September 21, presented a petition of support to the Commission to Study School Funding, conveying both widespread concern about the problems plaguing the state’s existing system for funding public schools and strong backing for efforts to address them.