New Hampshire Senate to vote this week on a Constitutional Amendment that seeks to clarify the legislature's role in setting state education policy.
The original amendment would have removed the word public schools from article 83 of the constitution…….That's the part that specifies it shall be the duty of legislators and magistrates "to cherish the interest of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries and public schools." Last week Senate President Ted Gatsas felt striking public schools from institutions to be cherished the best response to a Superior Court ruling that found the school funding plan that he authored unconstitutional…....Over the weekend though, Gatsas reconsidered, and now says that proposal might have gone too far.
"I've decided that those people that created the constitution 200 years agro did something and they did something good."
But not good enough, apparently, to leave as is…..Gatsas's new amendment subtracts nothing from the constitution. Instead, it adds language that reads "The legislature shall have the authority to make reasonable determinations of the context, extent, funding and delivery of public education." Gatsas says making that change will shift the school funding debate away from the nettlesome task of defining adequacy -- a struggle that's been ongoing ever since the concept was introduced by the first Claremont ruling in 1993.
"It was impossible to come up with a definition of adequacy then…..It's impossible to come up with a definition of adequacy today…..There is no subjective definition, there is no objective definition and no where in article 83 do I read the word adequacy."
But what his amendment would achieve if enacted is anything but clear……No one has ever argued the legislature lacks the ability to enact educational policy. And Gatsas strenuously denies wanting to either bar courts from hearing education funding challenges or to reduce the standard of judicial scrutiny should school funding disputes emerge…But Neither those assurances, nor the Gatsas amendment itself, inspire much confidence from longstanding critics of the school funding status quo.
"I liken it to the delivery of the Christians to the lions in the forum……Why, Why would the people of this state be willing to place their faith in the legislature in this matter?"
That's Concord Attorney Fred Upton……He's practiced law in NH since the 1943…..and represented communities in several of the Claremont lawsuits……Upton told senators the legislatures record on education funding has been appalling……and he didn't shy away from ascribing particular blame to the party who are the sole backers the Gatsas amendment.
"The majority party --and that's my party-- has bucked, resisted, stonewalled, frustrated and defied implementation of the Claremont decisions for more than a decade; it’s a sorry, sorry performance."
Upton added that the move to supplant questions of adequacy with the concept of "reasonable" would invite and not deter new school funding lawsuits……Democratic State Senator Peter Burling agreed…….He guesses that likely result of such suits would be much like the Claremont rulings, because the language about cherishing public schools remains. Burling further believes the amendment's evolution simply reflect the reality that Gatsas has thus far been unable to muster the needed 3/5th support to sent the amendment on to the house.
"This is all about arithmetic, this is all about how we can find the extra vote needed to get this thing out of the senate? And what is operating here is a political imperative and not a social purpose."
The amendment is scheduled for a vote by the full State Senate on Thursday.
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo