LEBANON — Two more Upper Valley school districts have decided to join a lawsuit challenging New Hampshire’s education funding system.
The Lebanon School Board voted, 6-2, on Monday night to add its name to a list of more than 11 districts arguing in court that the state fails to provide adequate funding for all students.
Meanwhile, the Mascoma Valley Regional School Board voted unanimously to also join the suit as co-plaintiffs. That district educates students from Enfield, Canaan, Grafton, Dorchester and Orange.
“As a regional school district, Mascoma Valley experiences the injustice of New Hampshire’s educational funding mechanism which pits community against community instead of uniting us in the common goal of education,” Tim Josephson, vice chairman of the Mascoma Regional School Board, said in a statement last week.
Claremont, Newport and Grantham announced earlier this month that would join the suit, commonly known as the ConVal case after the lead plaintiff, the Contoocook Valley Regional School District
The case was filed in 2019 and argues that the state’s base adequacy payments of roughly $3,600 per student aren’t enough to cover the minimum costs of education.