More state aid going to the schools that need it most versus the state shedding its responsibility to help cover the cost of an adequate education for all students.
That’s the very familiar argument that lawmakers, lawyers, education experts and the governor are having now that a constitutional amendment has been introduced.
The proposal would allow the state greater flexibility in how it targets state education funds.
What isn’t known is whether there is more political will now to push an amendment through, than in previous sessions.
New Hampshire Public Radio’s Dan Gorenstein reports.
The constitutional amendment fight is playing itself out on two fronts.
On one level there’s the public policy debate.
Senator Joe Foster, one of the amendment sponsors, says past court decisions make it illegal to target all state dollars.
That means New Hampshire is obligated to send millions in aid even to wealthy towns.
Foster says that makes it harder to get money to the schools that really need it.
The Nashua Democrat just thinks the state needs more flexibility.
11:32 I would like to have the flexibility the state of Massachusetts has. Lexington, MA. gets $800, Lawrence gets $14,000.
But critics, like Mark Joyce of the New Hampshire Schools Administrators Association, say the problem is that if the state sends more money to towns like Claremont and Franklin, it’s taking it away from somewhere else.
Joyce says if the past is any guide, this latest proposal all but guarantees that some school districts will get little to no assistance from the state.
TAPE: when the legislatures had free reign, or thought they did, they reduced aid...and so I think action speaks louder than words. And our history here has been that’s exactly what has happened, the obligation has shifted from the state to local taxpayers.
Londonderry Superintendent Nate Greenberg says if cities and towns lose funding it could be a disaster.
Londonderry was one of the towns that sued the state for not defining or paying for an adequate education.
Right now, Greenberg says his district receives 14 million dollars from the state, or 18% of his annual budget.
I ask him what he would do if a constitutional amendment passed and lawmakers developed a funding formula that didn’t send that money anymore.
TAPE: move out of town. (laughter)...if we lost 14 milliondollars and we had to raise that kind of money, there would be sig. reductions in programs...class sizes would go through the roof, we’d lose services, athletics, extra curricular activities...supplies.
5:56 Londonderry is not a school district that is in great need.
That’s attorney Gene Van Loan.
State records show no school in Londonderry has even 10% of its students eligible for free or reduced lunch.
Van Loan, who’s helped draft amendments, says at the end of the day, it’s the communities, not the state, that should be covering most of the education costs.
6:09 this is not a free lunch. Money doesn’t just fall from heaven in these things. If the state has to pay for it, we all pay for it. And the question is who should pay for what.
Even if lawmakers and the public managed to pass the amendment, Claremont Coalition attorney Scott Johnson doubts lawmakers would reach an agreement on which communities saw reductions in support.
TAPE: it’s real easy to pick a couple of poster child’s for the ones who shouldn’t get it. but what about Londonderry, or Concord? How much should they get and why? It’s just going to be very difficult for them to come up with a proposal that’s going to shift the amounts of funds they send.
In addition to the public policy debates, the politics of passing the amendment are tricky.
The measure seems to have enough support to pass the senate.
It’s not clear if the House will go along.
Last year, that body rejected it.
This year, Republicans say they are willing to back the measure, if it includes language that guarantees some minimum payments to all students.
The question is whether popular Governor John Lynch can persuade enough people in his own party to support it.
But at this point, House leaders don’t even want to talk about the plan, at least publicly.
For NHPR News, I’m DG.
