As New Hampshire awaits a decision in two major lawsuits challenging its school funding formula, Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut voiced support this week for some changes to the state’s education funding policies.
At a forum hosted by Americans for Prosperity New Hampshire in Manchester on Tuesday, Edelblut appeared to back a “pay for performance” model, specifically by giving high performing schools financial incentives. This came in response to an audience question about cutting funding to underperforming schools.
Edelblut pointed to the Virtual Learning Charter Academy — or VLACS — as an example of the model already in place in New Hampshire. VLACS is paid based on performance rather than enrollment, meaning the school doesn’t get paid by the state until a student demonstrates competency. As a charter school, it’s also subject to different regulations about what it has to provide students and teachers than a traditional public school.
“We have a school that does it. That’s actually a funding model that is actually admired in other parts of the country,” Edelblut said. “We could implement that into our own schools as well, you know, pay for performance.”
This was met by applause from the audience.
The Americans For Prosperity event also included a larger discussion about tax structures for education — a question New Hampshire has struggled with for decades.
In 2020, a Commission to Study School Funding recommended steering more aid toward struggling schools with higher needs, though some members of the commission supported a move toward “performance based accountability” in school aid.
How much money schools should get and where that money should come from are the subject of the two lawsuits pending in Rockingham Superior Court: one led by the ConVal school district and the other led by a business owner and former Democratic lawmaker from Plymouth.
Defining an ‘adequate education’
As Edelblut fielded questions about school funding at the Americans for Prosperity forum, the discussion turned to the perennial issue of what constitutes an “adequate education.”
Ian Underwood, who gained notoriety by spearheading an effort to cut the town of Croydon’s school budget in half, asked if there was any unified vision for education.
“If you look at the state constitution, it says the purpose of education is one thing,” he said. “If you ask the state Supreme Court, they say something else. If you ask the legislature, they say something else. If you ask the Department of Education, they say something else.”
Underwood compared it to someone pitching a single business that makes ice cream, runs buslines, and sells insurance, among other services.
“You might ask them, maybe you should decide what it is you're trying to do before you take money to try to do it,” he continued. “So, is there any effort within the state government to actually figure out what the hell it is you're trying to do?”
In response, Edelblut referred back to the statute defining the state’s public education responsibilities. But he also said individual communities can choose to fund additional services, beyond what the state law requires — and it’s “by design” that different schools provide different services to students, such as sports teams or swimming pools.
“Those are the add-ons that the local district is making the decision to put in place,” Edelblut said. “I think it’s by design that there is not a homogenous direction in terms of what is taking place.”
Communities, he added, “are making a decision, and they’re voting with their tax wallet, saying this is what I’m willing to pay for.”
In the case the ConVal School District brought against the Department of Education, the school district alleges that the state is failing to meet its obligation of providing an adequate education.
In that lawsuit, Edelblut was asked about which services — such as school nurse services and food services — were required for a constitutionally adequate education. The state has argued they’re not required to fund some of those services because they do not fall under the definition of an “adequate education.”
The question of defining how much an adequate education costs will likely fall to the judge in the ConVal case. That judge has indicated a ruling could be coming soon.
When asked about the ConVal case Tuesday, Edelblut said the Department of Education would respect the court’s decision.
“Really it's a decision between the judiciary branch and the legislative branch,” Edelblut said. “You know, the legislative branch is the one who determines what funding is for an adequate education. And we are the organization that implements that.”
Statewide education property tax, or SWEPT
Another major discussion topic at the event was the statewide education property tax, also known as “SWEPT.”
This tax is one source of funding for schools in the state. It works by making towns raise local property taxes in order to bolster education funding for their school districts. SWEPT is the focus of the other of the two school funding lawsuits, filed on behalf of business owner and former Democratic lawmaker Steven Rand, of Plymouth.
Since 2011, towns have been able to retain excess SWEPT funds locally. Towns can also create a negative local tax rate to offset SWEPT taxes. The plaintiffs in the Rand case argue that this causes the tax to be levied nonuniformly.
SWEPT was also discussed in the 2020 report released by the Commission to Study School Funding. The report said the state should eliminate “excess-SWEPT grants” to ensure student and taxpayer equity.
Towns that don’t raise enough money for education through SWEPT and other sources, like the state’s adequacy aid, can tax property locally to fund education.
The question of the tax burden on towns in funding education is a key part of the school funding debate. Some argue that funding education with more local property taxes as opposed to state aid disadvantages property poor towns. But others say redistributing funds across the state by need is unfair to wealthier towns.
Rep. Glenn Cordelli, a Republican from Tuftonboro who participated in the panel alongside Edelblut, talked about local control and funding of school districts in light of the recent suits.
“The locality is picking up the bulk of student costs,” Cordelli said. “If we were to shift that, and have the state pick up a greater cost as some of several lawsuits would like to see, does that mean that maybe the three of us would be running education in the local districts? Sometimes maybe you don’t want to get what you’re really asking.”
Edelblut responded to Cordelli’s comment on local taxpayers picking up the cost to clarify where the funding for education comes from.
“It all comes from the same taxpayers,” he said. “It’s just whether we push it through the state before it gets to that end result.”
