The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office is working to ask the state Supreme Court to overturn its two landmark Claremont school funding rulings from the 1990s because it does not coincide with a proper reading of the constitution.
“In a filing to the court Tuesday, the Department of Justice appears to be setting the groundwork to argue that the amount the state funds its public schools is a political question for the Legislature and not one determined by the judicial branch or dictated by the constitution,” NHPR states.
It is always difficult to read and hear about how education is political when in reality every single person, school district and community should have equal access to it. Education should not be political and courts should always ensure that all students have equal educational opportunities, regardless of where they live or how much money their town has. Education is a fundamental right, and when it becomes political, it threatens to fail the school children and become an equality issue.
According to NHPR, “Those arguments, if successful, could end decades of court precedent and diminish the state’s financial obligations to public schools. They came Tuesday as part of the state’s appeal of a 2024 Rockingham Superior Court ruling that found that New Hampshire’s school funding formula is unfair to local taxpayers and unconstitutional.”
The state’s appeal weakens protections of funding for students who may come from districts with less money, which, as I’ve stated, is really upsetting. Children in schools can’t control where they live or their families’ income.
It is all the more frustrating for me because I try to put myself in others’ shoes in every situation, and in this situation, it is the lawmakers’ shoes. I believe that the people in power should realize they would be nowhere near as successful or strong-willed as they are today without an adequate education. You would think that they would try to give everyone equal benefits instead of stripping them away. Education is one of the most important things in the world, and it should not be a constant political debate. It is a fundamental human right.
NHPR reports, “The state’s push to overturn Claremont dovetails with efforts by Republican lawmakers this year to undermine the rulings. House Bill 1815 would change state statute to declare the responsibility to provide an adequate education to be shared between local school districts and the state, which could cause courts to find that New Hampshire schools are already sufficiently funded.”
If this effort becomes set in stone, it will ultimately eliminate the need for fair funding for all schools. When I read that out loud, it sounded ridiculous because who would want to eliminate fair funding in schools? What sense does that make? I understand that different communities and districts account for different budgets due to varying incomes, however students in lower-income districts should not have to fear losing the resources they need to succeed.
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