Over the last 17 years since the initial Claremont decision, New Hampshire has attempted innumerable ways to resolve the school funding dilemma. The attempts to craft a fair and sustainable funding solution have repeatedly failed. Even when the Legislature has succeeded in passing a funding scheme, the towns that are harmed have filed lawsuits for relief.  The failure to resolve this issue has pitted town against town, and has kept us from addressing other pressing issues. But why has this issue become so intractable?

From the start of the discussion over school funding, the debate over Claremont has devolved into a fight of extremes; some have suggested a constitutional amendment and others an income tax. Each of these propositions is supported by a group of legislators, but neither is supported by enough to take action. Meanwhile, our citizens have grown weary of the ever rising property taxes on their homes. Voters have shown no indication of overwhelming support for either a major new tax or turning the clock back on school funding distributions.  Thus we find ourselves in a stalemate, endlessly debating extreme positions which have been demonstrated time and again to have little or no chance of passage.

As we now approach the final weeks of the current legislative biennium, long hours of study and effort have gone into passage of laws defining the content and cost of the state’s core educational requirements. However, we have yet to address the basic inequity in our system -that the local property tax rates necessary to meet these common state educational requirements are as much as ten times greater in some communities than in others. In order to address this constitutional problem, we must not only define “adequacy”, but also must determine how we shall fund it, how we shall distribute monies to the schools and how we shall account for the results of our efforts moving forward.

Some in the legislature will no doubt shortly say that we’ve done enough for now, that the really tough questions can wait until after the next election. This ‘easy way out’ approach, in our view, is perilous indeed. The evidence that our inaction on this issue is coming home to roost, is everywhere we look. The school funding plan which has emerged from the Senate lacks the necessary funding to be implemented. Our budget deficit projections have grown. Without a secure base for education funding obligations, our state has neglected infrastructure improvements and cut back on support of essential services. All the while, property tax burdens for homeowners across the state have ascended to new heights. The need to act is palpable, and yet we find ourselves once again engaged in a debate which seems built to go nowhere. A constitutional amendment or an income tax-is there no middle way?

We believe there is such a way, a New Hampshire way for us to come together to meet this challenge head on. It will first require that we agree that when it comes to providing a quality education for all of New Hampshire’s young people, we all must share in this responsibility to assure that it will happen. If we can agree on this one principle, we believe that finding a sustainable solution to school funding can be achieved without diminishing the attractiveness of the Granite State. In fact, we believe it can be done in a way that builds on our great traditions, improves the lives of our citizens and brings with it significant and much needed relief to homeowners from ever rising property taxes.

This week we will come forward with a bipartisan amendment to provide the necessary funding for the combined work of the adequacy commission, the costing commission, and others which has culminated to date in Senate Bill 539.  A low rate state property tax, combined with a generous exemption for owner occupied primary residences, has been revealed by independent financial analysis to yield a secure base for education funding while providing significant property tax relief directly to homeowners across the state. It does not create a new tax, nor does it require an amendment to our state’s constitution. The proposal rather is a realistic way to move forward in a manner which is equitable and in keeping with our best traditions.

We hope that Legislative leaders will consider it well. For in New Hampshire, we don’t ignore problems while they grow. We come together, sharpen the pencil and pay as we go. Experience has taught us that any other way is just too darn expensive.