Education Funding

The New Hampshire Supreme Court has declined to issue a definitive order on a case about school funding, instead sending it back to a lower court for a full trial. 

The unanimous opinion issued Tuesday avoids an immediate overhaul of the state’s education funding model, which currently sends “adequacy aid" to school districts at a rate of about $4,500 per pupil.

Though it has been the subject of debate for decades, school funding is back in the limelight in New Hampshire. The state Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week after four districts sued the state for not funding an adequate education for students. We examine the history and nuances of this discussion and explore how the issue is complicated by COVID-19. 

Air date: Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020. 

Find all of our coverage and share your experiences with NHPR's COVID & The Classroom.

The New Hampshire Supreme Court heard oral arguments Thursday in a case that's the latest in a decades-long debate over whether the state pays enough for public education.

Multiple New Hampshire School Districts are suing the state for not meeting its constitutional obligation to fund an adequate education for all students.

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Students are back at school and we focus on education issues. The N.H. Supreme Court is asked once again to weigh in on school funding. In Concord, the school board considers a petition to remove two administrators for how they handled allegations of sexual assault and inappropriate behavior by former teacher, Howie Leung.  We find out why the Manchester Police Department says it is losing confidence in Hillsborough County Attorney Michael Conlon.

We hear about the latest development in the Bear Brook cold case; genetic genealogy helped to identify the likely killer but the victims remain unknown. In a ruling that could have far reaching impacts, a  judge has called the state's current method for funding public schools is unconstitutional. And The Mount Washington Observatory and the Cog Railway are going to court over property rights on the summit of Mt. Washington. 

GUESTS:

At the foot of Mount Monadnock sits the town of Dublin. It has a famous lake, around 1,500 residents, and one little elementary school.

But all is not well in picturesque Dublin. Its school district and surrounding towns are involved in a lawsuit against the state over education funding.

The Exchange follows up on the NHPR series "Adequate," about how the state decides the value of public education, with a discussion in front of a live audience at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 30th. We speak with NHPR reporter Sarah Gibson, school superintendents, an attorney who has represented school districts, and two representatives from the House Education Committee on how the Legislature is handling public education funding. 

For schools across New Hampshire, special education is a growing need and a growing cost. Nowhere is that more apparent than in Manchester, the state’s largest district, where special ed expenditures have nearly tripled in the last twenty years.  

On Thursday, the Democratic-led House will vote on its version of the state budget. The budget, which is expected to pass, includes a $160 million increase in state aid to schools - the largest since the state ramped up funding twenty years ago in response to the Claremont lawsuits.

But with Governor Sununu’s veto pen at the ready, the budget faces an uphill battle in the next few months.

Last week, the ConVal School District sued the state, claiming that lawmakers are failing to fund an "adequate education" and that local taxpayers are shouldering more than their fair share.

This isn’t the first time New Hampshire has seen an education funding lawsuit. Districts across the state - from Claremont to Pittsfield - made similar arguments in court decades ago. And they won.

The NH Senate votes unanimously to fund full-day kindergarten entirely from state funds, rather than using money generated by Keno. Instead Keno funds would go to school building aid. Eight Democratic presidential candidates (including two potential contenders) will be in N.H. this weekend. And, in honor of Sunshine Week, we'll revisit some stories that would not have been possible without reporters seeking information using state and federal open records laws. 

In a move that surprised many education funding advocates, the ConVal School District in southwestern New Hampshire filed a lawsuit today against the state, claiming lawmakers have failed to fund an adequate education.

The complaint names the state of New Hampshire, the New Hampshire Department of Education, Governor Sununu and DOE Commissioner Frank Edelblut as defendants.

It says the "adequacy aid" that the state sends to districts needs to triple to meet basic requirements laid out in state law.

After news that New Hampshire had over $10 million in unspent federal funds for special education over the last ten years, we take a look at the dynamic balance of allocating resources for special education in the state, including changing student needs, workforce shortages, and the challenge of predicting and adapting to the ever-evolving student population within a school and within a district. We also look at why special education programs can vary widely with regards to resources across the state, and how that impacts students and educators.