RECENTLY, New Hampshire’s Supreme Court delivered a landmark win for students and property taxpayers alike. The court’s ruling confirmed what Democrats, educators, and community leaders have been saying for years: our state has been shortchanging our kids and unconstitutionally shifting the burden of public education onto already overburdened local property taxpayers.
Yet on the very same day this decision came down, Governor Kelly Ayotte’s budget kicked in, which siphons millions of public education dollars to expand an unaccountable private school voucher scheme to wealthy households.
One week into the budget cycle and the so-called “Education Freedom Accounts” program has already blown through its $39 million allocation, with new applicants likely to drive the cost of vouchers above $50 million just this year. That’s $50 million that should be paying teachers, buying books, fixing crumbling classrooms, instead of subsidizing private tuition for families who, more often than not, were already sending their kids to private schools anyway.
How did we get here?
It’s simple. While the courts have repeatedly told us we aren’t meeting the bare minimum for funding public education, Republicans have ignored their directives and diverted scarce taxpayer funds into a voucher scheme with little transparency and zero accountability. The voucher program was sold as a way to help low-income families “choose the best education for their kids,” but the reality is far different.
Data from the Department of Education shows that the vast majority of voucher recipients were already enrolled in private school or home schooled before ever applying for a voucher. Since the state does not pay for private education otherwise, the voucher program is simply increasing the taxpayer obligation while continuing to underfund public schools.
The impact is clear: every time we throw a dollar at this runaway voucher scheme, we’re raising taxes on everyone while continuing to fail our public schools. And when the state shortchanges schools, local taxpayers always get stuck with the bill. It’s no wonder New Hampshire homeowners pay some of the highest property taxes in the nation.
This should be the wake-up call we need. The court’s decision makes clear that the state, not local property taxpayers, is responsible to guarantee funding for an adequate education. Since state education funds come from a variety of sources, including business taxes and the lottery, the court has given us an opportunity to finally provide property tax relief and tap existing revenue sources to properly fund our schools.
There is legislation already in committee, HB 651 and HB 772, ready to raise state education aid to the baseline identified by the court. There should be no excuses, no partisan games, and no more hiding behind slogans about “school choice” while our property taxpayers and kids from property poor communities suffer.
New Hampshire families deserve strong public schools in every community, not a two-tier system that favors the wealthy and well-connected. They deserve property tax relief that comes from the state stepping up, not stepping back, and they deserve leaders who will put kids before ideology.