Underfunding and Undermining Our Public Schools
- Amplify NH
- Aug 24
- 4 min read
As we approach the end of summer, students across New Hampshire are preparing to head back to school. However, the quality of public education in New Hampshire continues to be at risk, as a new ruling once again determined that the state is underfunding public education.
Let’s take a look at this new ruling, as well as how other actions taken by the state have been undermining public education systems here in New Hampshire:
Judge Determines State is Underfunding Public Education (Again)
Last week, in the Rand School funding lawsuit, Rockingham Superior Court Judge David Ruoff found that New Hampshire is once again underfunding its public schools. In the ruling, Ruoff found New Hampshire’s varying education property tax rate violates Part II, Article 5 of the New Hampshire Constitution.
Education advocates across the state celebrated the ruling, noting the unconstitutional ways in which the state has been falling short.
“The court once again found that the state is failing its constitutional duty,” said Zack Sheehan, executive director for the NH School Funding Fairness Project. “The overall adequacy funding levels from the state are unconstitutionally low, special education is severely underfunded, and taxpayers are forced to pay wildly different property tax rates that violate our rights.”
In the ruling, Ruoff commented on how funds should be appropriated by the state, saying that schools have to use most of the $2,100 they receive for each special education student on evaluations, leaving about $400 for education. This ruling is expected to resonate with school districts struggling with increased special education costs and less state money to pay them.
And this isn’t even the first time such a ruling has been issued regarding the state’s underfunding of education. Last month, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled that the state has been severely underfunding its public schools, not meeting its constitutional obligation to provide for an adequate education.
Specifically, the ruling largely agreed with the finding of a trial court judge, who ruled in late 2023 that state-level spending on K-12 education would need to increase by at least $537 million per year.
Where it differed with the trial court ruling was how the funding would be determined. The high court reversed the trial court’s directive that the state immediately increase public school funding, instead directing Governor Kelly Ayotte and state legislators to determine how to bridge the funding gap.
“We urge the legislative and executive branches to act expeditiously to ensure that all the children in public schools in New Hampshire receive a State funded constitutionally adequate education,” Senior Associate Justice James P. Bassett wrote for the majority.
School Voucher System Poised to Undermine Public Schools
Earlier this summer, Kelly Ayotte signed into law legislation to expand the education freedom account program, falling in line with extreme “school choice” conservatives in the State House.
The bill, SB 295, removes income caps from the education freedom account program, allowing parents to access at least $4,182 per year in state funding to use toward nonpublic school education expenses.
And despite Republicans’ support in favor of the program, Democratic lawmakers, as well as many educators have long argued that the program siphons funds away from public schools, causing the state lawmakers to turn their backs on the constitutional obligation to fund a robust education for public district school students.
Since this legislation was signed into law, the program has hit its enrollment cap of 10,000 students, with nearly 300 students on a waitlist. And it remains to be seen whether or not this program is actually providing current public school students with alternative school choices as Republican legislators have claimed. According to reports from the New Hampshire Department of Education, about 65% of participants were already being homeschooled or attending private school when they enrolled since the program started in 2021.
This statistic, among others, amplified questioning as to the usefulness of these voucher programs, as well as whether or not they are hurting public school systems, especially in tandem with growing Republican talking points on book banning, parental rights, and lesson content disputes in the classroom.
“We could have spirited conversations about what — and how fast — systemic changes could and should be introduced, and make sure that the “public good” remained, always, at the center,” said Dana Wormald in a recent op-ed for the New Hampshire Bulletin. “What makes me skeptical that vouchers were ever intended to be an educational improvement is the way public schools have been undermined and attacked in order to gain popular support for implementation of the voucher programs.”
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Thank you,
Emma Carroll
Digital Director, Amplify NH