The state of New Hampshire could give Sunapee $3.1 million in building aid for a $10.6 million renovation project. But would that be perpetuating further separation of the haves from the have nots?
The average New Hampshire school system has a cost of about $17,000 per student in 2020 versus Sunapee’s current $32,000. The current proposal for a renovation/addition and budget increase would take that to $37,000. You can go to PSU, live on campus, and get a meal plan for $26,000 a year.
Would you be rewarding classism, Gov. Sununu, by helping fund that disparity?
School systems throughout the state are having major shortfalls in funding, which prevents them from providing an equal education. Would giving them that money be a better investment than giving it to a town with a valuation of $1.45 billion, Gov. Sununu?
The state should not be supporting a town that is not letting students from neighboring towns come here who don’t have K-12, without meeting certain “criteria.” That’s a private school practice, not public.
This practice keeps taxes higher in Sunapee, when those students could lower the costs if the school let them in. Sunapee is wealthy in land, not in year-round residents. It is a class tax, make no mistake about that.
I do not believe you want to perpetuate classism, Gov. Sununu, but maybe you need to be reminded that’s the way it would look – rewarding classism by publicly funding it with taxpayers’ money at the expense of people who are worse off.
CHRISTIAN WHITEHOUSE
Sunapee