Linda Terwilliger: State government needs to realign priorities in funding public education

To The Daily Sun,

Our GOP controlled state government needs to realign its priorities to increase state funding for public education. Also, the New Hampshire Department of Education should work to improve outcomes, instead of diluting school curriculum requirements.

Republican lawmakers in Concord are pushing through bills to expand the Education Freedom Account program with no caps, which will siphon even more public money away from our public schools. The program redirects state funding to vouchers (grants) for non-public educational programming including home schooling and private and religious schools.

The EFA program requires no accountability regarding how the money is used. Also, without a salary cap, the EFA program could cost over $100 million, per an analysis by Reaching Higher NH.

Why is our GOP controlled state government continuing to grossly underfund public education, while championing the expansion of the EFA program, which carries a hefty price tag and the risk for misuse of public funds?

The state has been grossly underfunding public education for years and unfairly puts the cost burden on local towns and property owners. In 2023, a superior court judge ruled that the state is sending way too little state funds to its public schools, in violation of its constitution.

In New Hampshire, about 70% of local public education is funded by property taxes raised locally. In 2022, our state spent the least amount of state funds on its public K-12 schools of any state in the country (as a percentage of total revenue), per the NH Fiscal Policy Institute.

We should ask ourselves, “What happens to students and communities, when there is even less state funding available to support our public schools? What happens to students, especially those with special needs, when districts have no choice but to lay off teachers, spend less on books and cut essential programs?"

Linda Terwilliger

Gilford