New Hampshire amendment to target school aid fails to pass
A proposed state constitutional amendment that would have given New Hampshire more flexibility to target school aid to the neediest communities has failed to pass in the state Senate by one vote. Governor John Lynch had championed the measure as a hallmark of his agenda. In April the Senate passed the measure 15-9, but the House rejected it by a two to one margin. The most recently defeated version was a compromise intended to bring more Republicans on board, but it ended up costing three Democratic votes. The governor has expressed deep disappointment with Republican senators, especially in light of what he believes are significant concessions from Democrats. Senators tabled the amendment immediately after the most recent vote, meaning it can be reconsidered if the Democratic leadership can muster enough support to pass it. Democratic leaders contend the vote shows that with some work, the amendment still has life, and they intend to keep negotiating. A second amendment crafted by Republican Ted Gatsas also remains in play after senators voted to send it back to a committee without discussion. That amendment gives local governments more authority over education funding.
Lawmakers also are working toward a July 1 state supreme court deadline to define an adequate education in simple enough terms to pay for it. House and Senate members have agreed to a committee that will negotiate that definition. The court’s ruling was the latest in a series of decisions building on the court's 1997 ruling that the state has a constitutional duty to provide an adequate public education to all children, and to pay for it with a fair and equitable state tax, instead of relying on widely varying local property taxes. Ever since then, lawmakers have wrestled with how to pay for schools, with one formula after another challenged as inadequate or unfair. One of the biggest complaints, bolstered by a recent study, is that while spending has gone up across the board, poorer towns have not gained much ground on wealthier ones. That led Gov. Lynch to propose an amendment that effectively would undo the 1997 ruling. His version would have required the state to pay half the cost of an adequate education, but would have given legislators wide latitude to give some communities more money and others very little.
Dover Daily Democrat
By Beverley Wang (Associated Press)
[Full story]
Portsmouth Herald
By Chris Dornin (Golden Dome News)
[Full story]
[Editor’s Note: The study referred to, by the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies, is below. In September 2006 the New Hampshire Supreme Court once again found that the state had failed to define an adequate education as required by the state constitution. The court retained jurisdiction with the expectation that the executive and legislative branches would provide the definition before the end of fiscal year 2007. Failure to do so, the court warned, could prompt more vigorous intervention, something the court until now has avoided. That opinion is summarized below at the second link.]
[New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies school funding study]
[NSBA School Law pages on Londonderry Sch. Dist. SUA No. 12 v. State]