House lawmakers set to vote on a constitutional amendment that would give the legislature sole control over education funding. The Governor and house republican leaders strongly support the amendment, democrats strongly oppose it.
When Governor Benson talks about the need for the constitutional amendment. He stresses his desire to allow the people to have their say.
"We’ve asked everybody but the voters to weigh in on this, and that’s got to change."
Benson spoke at a recent town hall meeting in Bedford. Of late, the governor’s made several speeches to promote the amendment. In Bedford, Benson played to the concern that state education money is wasted. By his calculation, some 700 million dollars.
"So what happened to the 700 million dollars? 700 million dollars did not make it into the classrooms, did not make it into the schools. And we’ve had this huge fraud perpetrated on the citizens of NH."
The claim that 700 million dollars has somehow gone to waste, relies on math that very few people agree with. To get there, Benson essentially double counts statewide property tax revenue …for abput 80 percent of NH communities, the statewide property did what it was supposed to do. It replaced local property taxes. Doug Hall of the New Hampshire center for public policy studies adds there’s little mystery where the bulk of the money Benson called wasted actually went.
"The information that we’ve looked at implies that a half of that or more is used for property tax relief, that is reducing local property taxes rather than increasing spending."
Arthmatic aside, Benson touts the amendment as a way to reign in a judicial branch he believes has overreached,……But critics contend the measure undermines the concept of three coequal branches of government.
"It gives the legislature complete absolute authority to make mandates and then not fund them."
Andru Volinski is lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the Claremont lawsuit. He says the legislature’s long track record of underfunding public education warrants continued court oversight. Volinski worries the amendment sets a bad precedent.
"It doesn’t protect the people who the legislative process does not quite work for…..And by that I mean children…Children don’t vote. So if the legislature can’t comply with the law…are we seeing a new trend….now that every time the legislature can’t comp comply with a judicial decision. We’re going to insulatate the legislature for protection. There are real problems."
Others, however see real opportunities… That group includes house republican leaders. GOP leaders say they are optimistic this amendment will succeed where the dozen or so past efforts have failed. House Speaker Gene Chandler.
"Well I think it’s pretty important, yeah it’s something that we’ve stressed, and we’re working on it to make sure it’s doen exactly the right way we may change it but the concert and philosophy behing it are critically important."
Chandler adds that leadership will push the amendment hard right up until the vote…….Meanwhile Democratic Leader Peter Burling promises that his caucus will hold the line and also reach out to moderate republicans. Burling believes higher property taxes are inevitable if the amendment succeeds.
"Every single voter in this state ought to be calling their local reps and saying what are you going to do. Because even without this constitutional amendment the republican majority has already cut 200 million dollars out of state support for public education next year."
House lawmakers are scheduled to take up the constitutional amendment tomorrow.
