Gov. Sununu keeps NH last in education funding
March 23 −To the Editor:
Congratulations are in order for Governor Sununu. Heading into the final year of an eight year residence in the Corner Office, he has successfully managed and maintained − with the assistance of our Dept. of Education − New Hampshire's position as absolute last in the nation in terms of State aid to education. While he has been adamant in reducing business taxes on multi-national corporations, local real estate taxes have increased on an annual basis, seriously impacting the finances of fixed-income retirees, first-time homeowners, and low-income tenants.
Although overall state income seems to have increased, the headlines tell us that education funding has not been keeping pace. We read of substantial layoffs at UNH and the closing of the university art museum and several liberal arts programs (plus a proposed increase in in-state tuition). In Dover, the proposed school budget reflects a reduction in state funding close to 18% from the previous year. How is that difference to be made up?
Twenty years ago, in the case of Claremont v. NH, our Supreme Court held that it was the state's duty to provide a constitutionally adequate education for public school students. Historically, it has been obvious that the state has failed to meet this standard, to the point that this past year a Superior Court judge issued an order that the state was to comply. (It's more than likely that the State will expend substantial amounts of taxpayer money to challenge this decision.) In the meantime, the burden on funding the public school system has increasingly fallen on the local property owner or, alternatively, needed staffing and programs have been postponed or eliminated at the district level.
It has often been said that our most precious resource is our young people, and it should have been an ongoing priority at the State level − even without the threat of legal action − to provide appropriate funding for every school and community in the state. Instead, Sununu and all those past and present who could have made a difference have apparently been more than content in holding down last place.
Anthony McManus
Dover