Republicans in the New Hampshire House have passed a bill to require local voters to consider capping school property taxes every two years. The proposal, which cleared the House along near party lines Wednesday, is the latest in a series of efforts by Republican leaders to curb growth in local school spending.
Under the bill, voters across New Hampshire would weigh in at every November election on whether to block increases in school spending by capping local tax increases and SAU administrative spending.
Before the House adopted the plan, its lead sponsor, Weare Republican Rep. Ross Berry, argued that the more people vote on a tax cap, the better local spending decisions would reflect the will of people.
"The ultimate form of local control is allowing the most voters to opine on the issue," Berry said.
But critics of the proposal, including Londonderry Republican Rep. Kristine Perez, said the policy’s bottom line objective is less about maximizing voters’ participation than reducing school distinct spending, regardless of local circumstances.
"Putting a cap on the school portion of property taxes is just another way of saying ‘cutting school budgets,’ " Perez said.
GOP leaders in the House have for the past few years pushed policies aimed at limiting local local property tax increases by giving voters new tools to curb government spending. But voters have largely rejected these.
After the vote, House Majority Leader Jason Osbornse said this policy will be different.
"Today we delivered. If school boards want to jack up your property taxes, they're going to have to convince voters at the ballot box, not outlast them in a gymnasium at midnight,” Osborne said.
But Megan Tuttle, who leads NH-NEA, the state’s largest teachers union, said this bill would only harm schools that are already under strain due to rising healthcare and special education costs.
“Instead of fixing our state’s broken public education funding system, these politicians are pushing yet another attempt to implement arbitrary school budget caps that will make it very difficult for school districts that are already underfunded,” she said.
The bill now moves the New Hampshire Senate. Republican leaders there have been leery of past efforts by the House to impose caps on local school spending.
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