N.H. again considers constitutional amendment over school funding
Handing a victory to New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch, the Senate overwhelmingly passed a constitutional amendment on education funding. After clearing its first major hurdle, the amendment now heads to the House, where it will likely face a more difficult test. House Speaker Terie Norelli hasn't disclosed her opinion on the new amendment, which would allow the state to bypass portions of a state Supreme Court ruling and give lawmakers broad authority to direct the state's education dollars to certain districts. The current proposal is the handiwork of Democratic and Republican Senate leaders, signaling a change from the partisan nature of last year's amendment debate. The amendment's supporters argue that the court's rulings are overly burdensome and have tied the Legislature's hands. An amendment, they say, would give lawmakers leeway to make the best use of its education aid by distributing more to needy towns and less to other communities.
Three Democrats, Sens. Jacalyn Cilley, Iris Estabrook and Kathleen Sgambati, broke with their party leaders and opposed the plan. The amendment would shift more of the cost of education onto already-struggling local property taxpayers, a move that would eventually harm school programs, Cilley and Estabrook said after the vote. “Those communities that suddenly find themselves receiving fewer educational dollars, or no educational dollars, are going to wake up to the fact that that's going right back to their property taxpayers,” Cilley said. According to Estabrook, the amendment would give lawmakers too much latitude over how to distribute state aid. She added that if the amendment passes, “I continue to have really serious concerns about ... how it would be implemented by the Legislature, and who would be sitting in the Legislature's seats at that point in time.”
Source: Concord Monitor, 2/22/08, By Sarah Liebowitz
[Editor’s Note: For background, see below.]
NSBA School Law pages on New Hampshire school funding