Partnering for Public Education

From NH School Funding Fairness Project

Addressing rising costs is what lawmakers should be focusing on in Concord.

Instead, on April 15th, lawmakers are playing games with a last minute, high-profile hearing in Representatives Hall on CACR 12 a proposal to amend the constitution to restrict the ability of future legislators to change how we raise revenues.

This is not a serious effort to address affordability. It is a political stunt that distracts from the real work of building solutions and keeps us stuck in the same cycle.
SIGN IN TO OPPOSE CACR 12 all right great)

→ Select April 15th �→ House Ways and Means Committee �→ CACR 12 �→ Select “Oppose” �→ check “Testimony is for Non-Germane Amendment”

gc.nh.gov

Last Friday, the Senate Education Finance Committee held a public hearing on SB 659 and HB 1815, two identical bills that would repeal and rewrite parts of New Hampshire’s education adequacy law, redefining public education as a system of “shared responsibility” between the state and local governments without defining what the state’s share would be.

During the hearing, NHSFFP Executive Director Zack Sheehan raised concerns about what the legislation is attempting to do.

“It appears to be the state does not like having in law the responsibility to provide funding,” Sheehan said.

🔗 Read the full article:
https://www.unionleader.com/news/politics/state/opponents-dominate-hearings-on-bills-to-rebuff-supreme-court-on-school-aid/article_8a2e12e3-70d3-4cb1-b9ae-840d1d44c782.html

Despite hours of in-person testimony from experts in the field, parents, educators, school board members, administrators, advocates, and taxpayers overwhelmingly opposing these bills, the committee voted 3–2 to advance both bills only minutes after the hearing concluded.

These bills are moving quickly through the Legislature and directly challenge recent court rulings that the state is not meeting its constitutional responsibility to fund an adequate education. (It is no coincidence these bills are moving at the same time as the State asked the Supreme Court to reverse both Claremont decisions.)

What these bills do not do: lower property taxes, reduce reliance on property taxes, or improve public education funding for New Hampshire’s students.

Instead, the Legislature is picking a fight with the courts that have, for more than 30 years, repeatedly found that the state is not meeting its constitutional responsibility to fund our public schools. Who loses? Our kids.