CONCORD, NH – Today, the New Hampshire House voted to reject HB 675, a bill carried over from the 2025 session that sought to mandate a statewide school budget cap. Today’s vote follows the rejection of similar language as part of the HB 2 state budget bill in 2025 as well as the rejection of petition warrant articles to institute local per pupil spending caps at annual school district meetings across the state last year.
Megan Tuttle, President of NEA-New Hampshire, provided the following statement after the vote:
“For nearly a year, Granite Staters have overwhelmingly spoken up and voted against efforts to arbitrarily cap their local school budgets. Today, state lawmakers listened to their constituents and rejected a statewide school budget cap mandate – again.
As taxpayers, educators understand the frustration with the rise in property taxes—and we feel it, too. But a state mandated arbitrary school budget cap does not address the funding crisis created by the State’s failure to fully fund an adequate education. It simply kicks the can down the road even further and passes the buck once again to local communities. While New Hampshire ranks in the Top 10 for public education funding overall, nationwide we are 50th when it comes to state funding. That means property taxpayers are forced to cover the balance because the State will not pay its fair share.
We hope elected officials continue listening to the people of New Hampshire, who overwhelmingly support their community public schools, and work across the aisle to fix our state’s broken education funding system to ensure every child has access to a quality education, regardless of their zip code.”
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