It seems like however much more money the state spends on education, it never seems to translate into tax relief. It is a difficult dynamic. We set the state budget, but you set your spending locally. We don’t know what it’s going to be. There are some communities where the state pays more than half of the cost of each student. There is at least one school district that has voted locally to spend more than $30,000 per student. Here in Sullivan County, the numbers are much lower. It doesn’t seem right that I take more of your money to subsidize high spending elsewhere.

State Aid

This chart shows how much aid per pupil Charlestown has been getting. Despite declining enrollment, the number goes up.

This is enrollment over the same time period.

The total aid has increased as well, but it won’t help unless we can do something to harness local spending, or at least validate it. Two bills have passed that will give you a little control.

Administration Costs

We believe admin costs, including salaries, have gone out of control. The salaries have certainly increased much faster than teacher salaries. Do you know your local district admin costs?

“House Bill 564, which Ayotte signed June 19, requires all school districts to separate the school administrative unit’s budget from the rest of the school district’s budget every year. At their annual town meeting or deliberative session, voters will be allowed to approve or reject that budget as its own warrant article. “ https://nashua.inklink.news/new-law-allows-nh-voters-to-veto-school-administrator-pay-increases You’ll have the flexibility to decide the school budget itself seem reasonable, but the overhead costs are too high. You get more control this way, and at least you’ll know.

Tax Cap

A lot has been said about HB 1300, and most of it misses the point. This bill does not force a tax cap on every school district in New Hampshire. It does not take away local control. It does the opposite. HB 1300 lets the voters in each community decide for themselves whether they want a school property tax cap. You will be able to vote on whether costs should be capped with some certain restrictions. https://nhjournal.com/smith-hb-1300-is-about-letting-voters-decide/ There has been criticism that low voter turnout in local elections dilutes what most voters really want. With this bill, we’re going to find out if that is true. The tax cap question will be on November ballots when most voters go, and certainly more voters than local elections.

Neither of these things will lower costs, but they do give you tools to get them under control. I don’t mean to imply that these tow measures are the solution, but they are a good start into reigning in what can seem like a runaway train of increased taxes.

Steve