Hopkinton Rep. David Renaud is arguing in favor of a bill that would increase basic adequacy aid from the state for local schools.
Charlotte Matherly – Condo Monitor
Hopkinton Rep. David Renaud wants to nearly double New Hampshire’s contributions to public education.
Democrats’ proposed legislation would increase the cost of an “appropriate education” from $4,100 to $7,356 per student per year. This comes with a hefty price tag: a $500 million increase in education spending.
While testifying before the Education Funding Committee this week, Renaud said that even the steep slope is one of the costs that the state must be responsible for.
“Our current school funding formula is not getting the job done for our students or taxpayers,” Renaud said.
He is in the process of introducing what he calls a “package” of school funding bills. With multiple pending lawsuits forcing Gov. Kelly Ayotte to budget out of this cycle and forcing the state to pay the bulk of education costs, lawmakers are trying to figure out how New Hampshire’s school funding structure should be structured. We are tasked with reconsidering how it works.
Renault said his legislation, including this adequacy aid bill, has the potential to reform how public education is funded in the state.
House Bill 550 uses numbers for state aid set by a judge in the ContooCook Valley School District education funding case. The judge ruled that the state must increase basic adequacy aid to $7,356 and cover necessary resources such as teacher benefits, educational materials, technology coordinators and school counselors. yeah. The state has appealed that order, and the fate of the case is under consideration by the state Supreme Court.
Merrimack Valley School Board member Jessica Wheeler-Russell testified in support of increasing basic adequacy aid to equalize opportunity for students across the state and give taxpayers breathing room. .
Russell said the biggest cost fares in education are mandated by law, including special education, health care and retirement funds.
The Merrimack Valley School District was $2 million over budget last school year, which administrators say is primarily due to unexpected out-of-area tuition and transportation costs.
“Because the state does not provide adequate funding…it places an undue burden on local taxpayers, especially in districts with low property resources,” Russell told the committee.
The additional $3,200 per student could reduce local taxes, which would be “life-changing” for some people, Russell later told the Monitor, especially those living on fixed income or parents with young families. I did. She spoke on her behalf, she said, not the school board’s.
She also hopes more state funding can help local districts like hers provide more opportunity and competition, including investments in technology and security. .
But she said Renault’s pitch alone was not enough.
“Bringing this into the 21st century is a good start and begins to address the reality of what it actually costs to educate students,” Russell said. “It’s not quite there yet, but it’s a start.”
How can I pay for it?
First of all, Wilmot Rep. Tom Schanberg proposed more allocations from business profits and corporate taxes to the Education Trust Fund.
In two separate bills, House Bill 255 and House Bill 318, Schaumburg would direct 59% of revenue toward education from each tax, a significant increase from the current 41%. It would reallocate $226.8 million based on estimated tax revenues for fiscal year 2025. The current version of these bills doesn’t raise taxes, it just switches where the revenue goes.
Schaumburg touted the legislation as a way to potentially eliminate a statewide education property tax. This increase alone won’t replace that tax, Schaumburg said, but more legislation is in the works to make up for it.
Chichester Rep. Cyril Aures argued that instead of allocating more money, local school districts should reevaluate their spending practices. He said to some extent they have to run like a business.
“You can’t keep throwing money at a business if you’re not seeing the end result,” Aures said, citing the declining performance of some schools.
Rep. Susan Almy, a Democrat from Lebanon, had one question for Schenberg. “How are you going to pay other governments?”
Schaumburg responded by saying that “hard work” is needed as the nation looks at its own social programs. He suggested that Congress should consider ways to overcome the challenge, but he said he currently has no other proposals.
Almy wasn’t the only one worried. House Republicans appeared skeptical of these bills, raising concerns about how to balance the budget and the resulting funding gap if business tax allocations were changed.
Last year, Republicans voted to eliminate the interest and dividend tax, bringing in an estimated $184.3 million in its final year.
Charlotte Matherly is a Statehouse Reporter for the Concord Monitor and Monadnock Ledger-Transcript in collaboration with Report for America.
