Gary Burton: Our schools are in trouble, and Concord is looking the other way

To The Daily Sun,

New Hampshire’s public schools are facing a funding crisis, and few people seem to realize it. NH property taxpayers should be alarmed.

In August, Superior Court Judge David Ruoff issued the Rand Decision, reaffirming the landmark 1993 Claremont ruling: the state — not local property owners — bears the constitutional responsibility to fund an adequate public education for our state’s youngest citizens.

Ruoff ordered our elected legislators, both Democrats and Republicans, to resolve the upcoming fiscal shortfall that next year's school budget meetings will face. Yet, months after Ruoff's decision, our lawmakers have proposed little and accomplished nothing. The governor and legislative leaders know what is happening: already, schools in property-poor communities are beginning to run out of money. Other school systems will follow. It’s as if the legislators are magically hoping the school funding problem will resolve itself.

They know that more and more local communities will be confronted with higher property taxes to fund all municipal operations, including the public schools. Still, they refuse to lead. Maybe they think the problem is too complex? Too politically risky? Too likely to draw criticism? But silence and delay are not leadership.

Our children’s education and the quality of our public schools, depend on statewide financial stability, not the taxes of local property owners and their goodwill. If our legislators and governor won’t fulfill their duty to our communities, then we voters should find people who will. New Hampshire taxpayers, families, and communities deserve better.

Gary Burton

Meredith