Thanks to Reps. Thomas Oppel and David Fracht for hosting last night’s listening session on school funding. It featured a lively presentation from Reps. Dave Luneau and Hope Damon, ranking members on the House Education Finance and Education committees–experts on school funding issues statewide. Local expertise came from Mascoma District School Board chair Tim Josephson, who grounded the discussion in our area’s perspective.
Thanks also to all the people who braved the heat to join in this important discussion. Here are some of the things I heard:
The state of NH is failing its obligation to provide adequate funding for its public schools, and has been failing for at least 30 years.
The current school funding system is deeply unfair, allowing the heaviest property tax burden to fall on the poorest communities.
In general, the state is pushing costs down to the local level, not only with schools but also with housing. (And adding child-friendly affordable housing will not raise property taxes, as some people fear.)
The current majority in our legislature (Free State/ GOP) wants to dismantle public education; their recent policies have moved NH closer to that goal.
Democrats have a plan to address these problems. Their bill (HB 772) did not advance in the last legislative session, and is not likely to do so in the coming year.
Still, as one participant last night said, “We need to be better people!” To me, that means supporting representatives who will work for the common good, who care about quality education for all children, and who will uphold New Hampshire’s Constitutional obligation to provide adequate, equitable funding.
So let’s keep talking about this. Let’s keep learning. Let’s ask our neighbors if they care about public schools–or about their property taxes. Let’s organize to support the people we’ll need in Concord in 2027 to start fixing this.
