The Commission to Study School Funding has less than a year to develop a more equitable formula to distribute state aid to schools. This commission is to review the education funding formula and make recommendations to ensure a uniform and equitable plan and determine if the formula complies with court decisions for all public school students. Several members of the committee noted the need to find an education funding system that would be sustainable in the future that provides additional help to the state’s property-poor school districts where property taxes have soared to pay for schools.
New Hampshire, along with the rest of the country, is in the midst of a student debt crisis. Borrowers in this state—our friends, families, and neighbors—are shouldering nearly $7 billion in student loan debt. The time is now for New Hampshire to tackle the student debt crisis. HB 1500 would do just that. The bill would require student loan companies to be licensed and follow common-sense rules. And if a company breaks the law, the bill ensures that this state can hold that company to account. After years of litigation against two laws they say will disenfranchise voters,
New Hampshire Democrats tried a new tact this week. Attacking the purse. In an unusual move, Democrats on the Fiscal Committee voted Friday to cut $477,000 from the Department of Justice’s litigation budget, arguing that the state should stop funding its ongoing defense of Senate Bill 3 and House Bill 1264. Chairwoman Mary Jane Wallner, a Democratic representative from Concord, said in a statement that the committee “voted to cease funding for two cases which put the voting rights of Granite Staters in jeopardy.”