Senate Republicans Vote ITL on SB 158 – Reject Findings of the Commission to Study School Funding
Contact Name: Marina Altschiller
Phone: (603) 271-3207
CONCORD – Today, Republican members of the Senate Education Committee voted ITL on SB 158. SB 158, an act relative to the formula for funding an adequate education, is derived from the work of the Commission to Study School Funding – a bipartisan commission established by the legislature in 2019 to study New Hampshire’s education funding formula and present policy recommendations during the 2021 legislative session.
After the vote, prime sponsor Senator Jay Kahn (D-Keene) issued the following statement:
“New Hampshire needs to make changes to our state education funding model to ensure every school district has long term access to adequate funding based on student needs and community characteristics like poverty, special education needs, and English language learning, as noted by my colleague Senator Hennessey. It is disappointing then, that while recognizing the disparity felt by districts like Berlin, my Republican colleagues voted against efforts to make those very changes while citing non-existent property tax increases. SB 158 provides the basis for an equitable school funding model where each school district is able to achieve comparable student outcomes, and receives state grants for the predicted resources they need, and provides a more robust state-funded property tax relief program for low- and moderate-income homeowners.”
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