Voters across New Hampshire rejected lawmakers' efforts to cap local school spending last year. They will have to consider it again in November under a bill signed Wednesday by Gov. Kelly Ayotte.
House Bill 1300 requires that the November election ballot include language asking voters if they want to limit spending on schools and administrative costs to the rate of inflation. The question must reappear on the November 2028 ballot as well.
Three-fifths of local voters would need to support a cap for it to take effect, and any local cap could be overridden by that same margin. Ayotte described the bill as a property tax cap without noting it applies to school spending only.
“New Hampshire is at its best when we’re putting decision making power in the hands of the people,” Ayotte said in a statement. “This bill gives voters a say about their local property taxes and ensures Granite Staters’ voices are heard.”
State law already allows communities to adopt tax caps and limit school spending, but it’s up to voters to decide whether to put a proposed tax cap on the ballot. Last year, several communities rejected proposed limits on school spending.
The new law requires all communities to consider the option.
Rep. Ross Berry, a Republican from Weare who serves as chairman of the House Election Law Committee, said the legislation appropriately puts the question before the largest number of voters. Weare voters rejected a proposed cap on school spending last year.
“New Hampshire already spends the fourth-most per pupil in the nation, yet families continue to face outrageous increases that are taxing people out of their homes despite state education funding being at record-high levels,” Berry said in a statement.
Megan Tuttle, president of NEA-New Hampshire, said the effort is another attempt by state legislators to undermine local public education, and in a way that “locks in” existing funding disparities.
“New Hampshire voters already have the authority to place caps on local school budgets and taxes, and time and again they have chosen not to because they understand the real costs schools face, including rising utility expenses, health care premiums, and the growing cost of student support services,” Tuttle said.
Christina Pretorius with Engage NH, an advocacy group, called the legislation “another attempt to cut funding for public education that will have lasting, harmful impacts on our children’s education and future.”
