Governor John Lynch says he's rethought the school aid package he proposed last month in his two year state budget.
Lynch had originally planned to trim 29 million dollars from the aid levels called for by current law. The governor now says he'd like to send communities the full amount they were expecting -- 527 million dollars a year.
New Hampshire Public Radio's Josh Rogers has more.
The Governor announced his decision with little fanfair at a previously scheduled news conference.
"I hope to spend about the same amount that was originally proposed and get communties as close as possible to what they were expecting under the current law, while at the same time holding all communites harmless, plus giving them five percent."
The Governor said he'll tap the education trust fund to get he added money……His proposed budget projected that fund would show 100 million dollar surplus in two years…….His new plan would spend the bulk of that….. Lynch declined to say directly what prompted him to change his thinking, but did say that he's sensitive to the needs of cities and towns that stood to lose money under his original proposal.
"I do understand that communities were expecting --some communties -- were expecting more money because what they were told in the fall, and as compared to what they believed they would get under current law. That said, I want to make it clear that this is really an interim funding solution for the next couple of years."
For now, the Governor says he and lawmakers must focus on defining adequacy and passing a constitutional amendment to make it easier to target aid to needy communites……..Key Democrats are blessing the governor's push to restore funding. They agree that increasing aid will give towns slated to lose money more predictability. The communties in question range from several of the original Claremont plaintiff towns, to cities like Laconia, to places like Londonderry, Nashua and Merrimack -- that were among the plantiffs in the most recent education funding lawsuit…..Representative Dan Eaton of Stoddard says getting these and other communities more money is best policy under the circumstances. It is also, Eaton adds, good politics.
"The political reality is a lot of those areas also have a large vote base that translates to votes on the floor of the House and Senate."
But not all -- even among the gainers -- are impressed.
"This is like never never land."
That's Nate Greenberg, Superintendeant of schoolds in Londonderry……He says he's glad his community might see the 2.5 million dollars it stood to lose under Lynch's original proposal, but he says the revised plan just seems like more stalling.
"And again, we are working of arbitrary numbers, arbitrary figures that aren't based on a clear and concise definition of adequacy and costing it out. So it certainly can be precived as a political move to buy time when the important thing to do is get down to business and do what the court has asked us to do."
The legislature is meanwhile considering a number of new school funding plans. Lawmakers and the governor are also working on putting in place a definition of adequacy by the State Supreme Court's July 1st deadline.
