Faced with ever-rising costs in a school district that already makes up 70% of the tax bill in town, a common complaint emerged Saturday morning in Epsom: The state of New Hampshire needs to do a better job funding education.

“One of the reasons we have a funding problem is the legislature has sent tens of millions of dollars to private and religious schools,” resident Mark Hodgdon said at the town and school deliberative session. “I think that money should be coming to public schools, like Epsom Central School.”

Others criticized the state for unfunded mandates that drive up costs.

If passed by voters at town meeting on March 12, Epsom’s $14.2 million school budget would increase the tax rate by $2.25, which means an annual increase of $675 a year on a $300,000 home. If the budget is voted down, the default budget would kick in, which is slightly more expensive and would mean a higher tax rate increase of $2.41.

The proposed budget increases spending by $762,404, with nearly all of that coming from special education programs and transportation. Cuts were made in areas to offset increases.

“There are some things such as special education costs that I am not able to cut out,” said Epsom Central School Principal Patrick Connors.

Out-of-district placements for special education students can be particularly costly, adding around $100,000 a year per student or more. The district tries to avoid those because of the financial impact, but some students need services that can’t be provided in-house, said Assistant Superintendent Jessica Bickford.

“Occasionally, we can’t meet the needs of some students in this building,” Bickford said.

One student’s placement is particularly expensive, costing $250,000 to $300,000 next year, Bickford said.

Others defended the spending during the school portion of the meeting, which lasted an hour.

“It’s a public right for students to get an equal education to maximize their potential in the world,” said Kim Gillis, a special educator. “If the most needy kids are not supported, they’re not going to be contributing citizens when they are older.”

Epsom has 371 students attending the central school and 159 at Pembroke Academy.

Class sizes remain small in most places, and State Rep. Dan McGuire asked about eliminating staff to increase class sizes and lower costs. For example, the district has 38 kindergarten students spread out between three classes. Eliminating one of those classrooms would change those smaller class sizes to a 19-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio.

In addition to the school budget, a proposed three-year contract for teachers increases spending by about $100,000 in its first year, $166,000 in its second and $118,000 in its third.

On the town side, where residents talked for another three hours, the proposed $4 million budget, would increase the tax rate by 23 cents, which amounts to an annual increase of $70 a year for an average home. Money to go toward road construction would add a similar amount.

If all spending measures are approved this year on both the town and school side, taxes would rise by $930 a year on a house worth $300,000.

In addition to cost items, residents will face 10 petitioned warrant articles that seek to eliminate or restrict firearm sales in residential areas.

Resident Mike Keeler put forth one of those articles after the planning board allowed Steven and Patricia Rhodes to run a firearms business out of their house on Lena Lane.

Keeler said the approval violated the town’s zoning laws, which his warrant article seeks to clarify. The business should be located in one of the industrial zones in town, not in a residential area.

“We should all follow the rules of the road, which are the zoning ordinances,” Keeler said.

The approval of the home firearms business is the subject of a lawsuit from resident Robert Topik, who put forward nine other petitioned warrant articles that would similarly restrict gun sales in residential areas.

“I think the town officials should be acting in the best interest of the residents and, in this case, I don’t think they were,” Keeler said.

Town officials maintain they did nothing wrong and cannot regulate what is sold from a home business.