Speaking before the N.H. House on Wednesday, Rep. Steven Smith of Charlestown said the Legislature has a chance in the coming months to solve education funding problems before a court imposes a solution on the state.
The N.H. Supreme Court is considering the state’s appeal of Rockingham County Superior Court Judge David W. Ruoff’s ruling last year that New Hampshire’s baseline funding should be at least $7,356 per pupil, almost double what it now is.
The ruling came in a four-year-old lawsuit brought by the ConVal School District. Many other districts in the Monadnock Region and across the state have joined the litigation.
Smith, a Republican, argued before the House on Wednesday that it should split the House Education Committee in two — one panel focusing on funding and the other on policy and administration.
“There’s a hope that by separating those two issues, the policy and administration can be far more contentious than the funding, and maybe we’ll actually beat the courts in getting to a solution and save face for the House,” he said.
In a voice vote, the House agreed to create the two committees. Legislation is first considered at the committee level in the N.H. Legislature before the full House or Senate votes.
Smith, who is deputy speaker of the House, said in an interview Thursday that educational funding tends to be less controversial than education policy.
“Think of a day when you start out with some bills on critical race theory and transgender issues. Those are polarizing, they’re emotional and then you’re going to roll into a discussion about funding.
“I don’t think that’s the right setup. The hope is that having funding focused in one committee, we’ll be more focused on that and not be at odds with each other so often.”
He said a legislative solution to school funding inequity should be one that is targeted to providing additional state dollars where they are needed the most.
The state’s current system of funding public education relies heavily on local property taxpayers. Some wealthy communities with relatively high property values have an easier time funding schools than towns and cities with lower values.
“Does anybody think that we should triple the amount of money we’re putting into, I don’t know, Hanover or Bedford, communities that can clearly afford this on their own, when you have places like Claremont, Charlestown and other places that can really use the help?” Smith asked.
One indication on the large role education issues will play in the next Legislature is the sheer volume of proposed legislation filed on the topic. Smith said he expects about 120 bills about education, up from about 100 proposals in the most recent legislative session.
They range from measures to increase eligibility for school vouchers to addressing school bullying.
New Hampshire’s voucher program, known as Education Freedom Accounts, uses public dollars to help parents defray the cost of sending their children to private, religious or home schools. This tends to be a partisan issue, with Republicans calling for expansion and Democrats calling for cutbacks.
There are four bills on bullying, including one from Sen. Donovan Fenton, D-Keene, calling for a study and another by Rep. Peter Leishman, D-Peterborough, that would allow school districts to take parents to court if their child is bullying others and the parents don’t help the school address the problem.
On Sept. 4, about 150 people gathered in Keene’s Central Square holding signs promoting acts of kindness while demanding more accountability from Keene School District officials for bullying and other harmful student behavior.
Many attendees said they were there to show support for the family of a Keene Middle School student who died by suicide after her mother said she experienced continual bullying.
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