New Hampshire educators know New Hampshire communities support their public schools, which are attended by nearly 90% of students and 95% of students with a disability. The state ranks near the top nationally in per-pupil spending, and communities continue to invest heavily in their schools. But a closer look at the latest data tells a more troubling story: beneath the surface, the system is under growing strain, and the people who make it work—educators and school staff—are being stretched thin.
Start with teacher pay. Salaries are rising modestly, which is often cited as progress. But that’s only part of the picture. While New Hampshire increased starting teacher pay by 3.3% this year, the state’s national ranking fell to 42nd. Top salaries rose by 5.2%, yet rankings slipped again. In other words, other states are moving faster. For early-career teachers deciding where to build their lives, that matters. Over time, it means New Hampshire is losing ground in the competition for talent.
Even more concerning is what has happened to the workforce itself. In just one year, the state lost nearly 7% of its teachers—ranking last in the nation for those declines. That is not a temporary dip. It is a warning sign of a system struggling to retain the professionals it depends on.
At the same time, student enrollment is declining slightly. In theory, that could ease pressure on classrooms. But the opposite is happening. Because staffing levels are falling faster than enrollment, the number of students per teacher is rising—and rising quickly. New Hampshire saw one of the largest increases in the country—5.66%. The result is larger class sizes, heavier workloads, and fewer opportunities for individualized attention.
The strain doesn’t stop with teachers. Education support professionals—paraeducators, custodians, clerical staff, food service workers, and transportation workers—are essential to keeping schools running and ensuring all students supported. Yet many are paid wages that make it difficult to stay in the profession. In K–12 schools, the average salary for these workers is just over $35,000, and more than half earn under that. Nearly a third make less than $25,000. These are the people who work one-on-one with students, keep buildings safe and clean, and ensure schools function day to day. When they leave, the entire system feels the impact.
Perhaps the most striking contradiction in all of this is funding. New Hampshire ranks among the top states in both revenue and spending per student. But the way that funding is structured tells a different story. Nearly two-thirds of school funding comes from local sources—primarily property taxes—making New Hampshire one of the most locally funded systems in the country. Meanwhile, the state’s contribution ranks last in the nation. This imbalance creates deep inequities between communities and places an outsized and unsustainable burden on local taxpayers.
Taken together, these trends point to a system that is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain. Spending is high, but it is not translating into stability for the workforce. Salaries are rising, but not enough to stay competitive. Staffing levels are shrinking, even as demands on educators grow.
New Hampshire’s public schools did not arrive at this moment overnight, and there is nothing inevitable about where things are headed next. But reversing these trends will require deliberate action. That means strengthening the state’s commitment to funding education, not continuing to downshift the responsibility onto local communities. It means making educator pay competitive with neighboring states, so that talented teachers and staff choose to stay. And it means recognizing that support staff are not peripheral—they are central to student success and deserve wages that reflect that reality.
The question facing New Hampshire is not whether it values education. The numbers show that it does. The question is whether, as a state, we are willing to align our policies with that commitment—before the cracks in the system become harder to repair.
