New Hampshire lawmakers sent Gov. Kelly Ayotte a bill Thursday that Republicans hope will resolve a 30-year legal fight over school funding.
The Republican-backed legislation would avoid a debate over how much money the state spends on education and instead limit the state’s obligation to the academic subjects currently required and the additional money the state sends communities for students learning English, receiving free or reduced price lunch, or special education services.
Local taxpayers would cover the rest, such as transportation, school administration, and nurses. While the courts have said those are necessary to an adequate education, the bill’s prime sponsor, Rep. Bob Lynn, of Windham, sees them as "collateral costs” to be borne by local communities.
A lawyer who sued the state over school funding, told lawmakers earlier this month that the legislation will lead to more litigation, not resolve three decades of legal disputes.
During a debate in the Senate Thursday, Sen. Keith Murphy, a Manchester Republican, said, “This bill is best construed as a polite invitation to the judicial branch to correct three decades of faulty school funding orders.”
Democratic Sen. Cindy Rosenwald, of Nashua, said she and her party would “be standing on the side of students [and] property taxpayers” who’ve accused the state of shirking its responsibility by shifting public education costs to local communities.
“This bill is really a shameful dereliction of duty,” Rosenwald said.
In July, the state Supreme Court ruled the state is underfunding special education but left the amount up to lawmakers.
It’s unclear how quickly Ayotte will act on the bill but she’s made clear she disagrees with the court’s July ruling, saying then that the judges “reached the wrong decision.”