Report Says State Continues to Face Education Inequity

Sometimes a title says it all.

In this case the independent New Hampshire Center of Public Policy Studies 14th and newest report on education funding is named School Finance Reform: Back to Where We Started.

The report goes back to the 1997 Claremont II decision.

The state Supreme Court found an significant disparity between wealthy and poor communities and asked the state to assure adequate education for every student and pay for it by a flat tax rate.

New Hampshire Policy Studies Doug Hall.

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2:32 if we simply compare where we are today with where we were immediately before the reform in terms of per pupil equity and tax equity, we have gotten essentially nowhere.
Hall points out that not only is the disparity as wide as it was 8 years ago, but cities and towns are shouldering a greater share of the load..

Before any reform took place in 1998, the local property tax accounted for 77% of funding.

That number dropped the next year to 31%, after the state instituted a $6.60 statewide property tax.

But the report shows that number has crept back up, to nearly 50%.

Governor Lynch's spokesperson Colin Manning says the report is further proof the state needs to change how it pays for schools.

In the interim, Governor Lynch is asking lawmakers to maintain current funding levels for the next two years, and give communities an additional 5 percent.

At the same time, he wants to define an adequate education, and change the constitution to make it easier to target school aid.

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:31 I think it underscores what the governor has been calling for, target aid to communities that need it the most. The state needs to do a better job to get aid to communities that are struggling with the basics.

The new report's findings don't surprise Democratic Senator Peter Burling.

He says it's not his fault.

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:30 personally I feel good b/c I have voted for things that would have fixed the problem...an income tax solution, a sales tax solution, there were two bills I sponsored on behalf of Governor Shaheen, there was a constitutional amendment that I sponsored...that would have reinforced the state's commitment to education.

Burling says with his party in control in Concord, the Legislature will come up with a solution that finally will address the inequity between poor and rich communities.

But Republican Representative David Hess, who has drafted previous education funding formulas, doesn't completely agree with the report's conclusions.

For one, he says, between 1998 and today, the state has invested a lot of new, cold cash.

16:43...When you go from 150 million to 450 million dollars in state aid, you aren't spinning your wheels, you are throwing a heck of a lot of money at the education issue.

In addition to $300 million additional state dollars, Hess points out that taxpayer inequity has shrunk by about 1/3rd since the late 90's.

The Representative says while the numbers show a clear disparity, it's not clear the communities spending less are not providing an adequate education.

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28:08 one I guess has to ask is that a natural law that we are trying to fight against, maybe it is something we can't alter, b/c the wealthy communities are always going to spend more money on their kids education than the poor ones. Unless we prohibit them from taxing themselves...and if we do that the People's Republic of Vermont will look like a democratic free economy.

The new Public Policy study does not offer any solution to closing the gap between rich and poor.

But the Center's Steve Norton does offer some historical perspective.

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10:26 the questions that were being asked in the 1780's, are basically the same questions that are beign asked now.

For NHPR News, I'm DG.