A bill signed into law by Gov. Kelly Ayotte on Friday directly responds to the Supreme Court’s ruling last summer, which found that the state’s base adequacy funding for education is unconstitutionally low and must be increased.
But the new law will not allocate more funding to public education.
Rather, House Bill 1815 revises the requirements of providing an adequate education and amends the way the cost is calculated.
“This bill is best construed as a polite invitation to the judicial branch to correct three decades of faulty school funding orders,” Republican Sen. Keith Murphy said.
The new law defines the state’s adequacy payments as a component of the cost of an adequate education, rather than the whole cost. It also clarifies that differentiated aid — the additional payments the state makes for students who receive special education services, are eligible for free or reduced meals or are English language learners — is a component of the state’s adequacy payments.
The law also removes the requirement that an adequate education meet the state’s minimum educational standards.
“How the state and its local governmental entities choose to raise, allocate, and spend
financial resources to implement this integrated public education system is a political policy matter reserved to legislative and executive judgment and control,” the new law states.
Democrats criticized the law as an effort to respond to the court’s ruling without actually addressing the underlying issue of school funding.
“If you think your property taxes are bad now, just wait,” Rep. Dave Luneau of Hopkinton said in a statement. “By eliminating the state’s obligation to fund public education, Governor Ayotte and Republicans have thrown students under the bus to save a dime and pass the buck onto property taxpayers.”
The head of the state’s largest teachers union said the new law will widen inequities around the state.
“Every student deserves access to a high-quality public education in their community—one that inspires a lifelong love of learning and helps them build a bright future,” Megan Tuttle, President of NEA-New Hampshire, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, under New Hampshire’s broken public school funding system, that promise remains out of reach as our State ranks ‘Last in the Nation’ when it comes to its contribution to public education costs.”
