Voters across the state rejected efforts Tuesday to control school spending by limiting what they spend on each student.
A new law allowed citizens to propose per-student spending caps for the first time this year. At least seven school districts considered caps Tuesday: Brookline, ConVal, Epping, Epsom, Salem, Thornton, and Weare. They all failed to get the required three-fifths majority vote to pass.
A proposed cap failed in the Kearsarge Regional School District in January. Voters in the Hollis-Brookline School District opted not to vote on a proposed cap, effectively defeating it.
Rep. Ross Berry, a Weare Republican, voted for the proposed cap in that district, which would have limited per-student spending to $24,767 a year, with an adjustment for inflation. It failed, 920-966. Still, Berry called it a win.
“Despite not making the high 60% threshold, I am still surprised by our strong performance,” he said in a message. “This is a new concept that would protect taxpayers and it will take a few cycles for people to realize this is something worth showing up to vote for in an election they normally sit out. I didn't expect us to break 40% but we received 49.3% of the vote and I think we will see success in a few years."
Republican lawmakers are making another attempt this year to control local spending with a bill that would automatically cap school spending in each district. Voters would need a two-thirds majority vote to override the cap, a threshold opponents have called unreachable.
