New Hampshire HB 772: establishing a foundation opportunity budget program for funding public education.

Bill Text

HB 772-FN - AS INTRODUCED

2025 SESSION

 25-0791

 07/08

HOUSE BILL 772-FN

AN ACT establishing a foundation opportunity budget program for funding public education.

SPONSORS: Rep. Luneau, Merr. 9; Rep. Ames, Ches. 13; Rep. Damon, Sull. 8

COMMITTEE: Education Funding 

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ANALYSIS

 This bill modifies the determination and funding for an opportunity for a constitutionally adequate education by establishing foundation opportunity budgets and state foundation opportunity grants.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

 Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

 Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

 25-0791

 07/08

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Five

AN ACT establishing a foundation opportunity budget program for funding public education.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

 1 Education; Adequate Public Education; Policy and Purpose. RSA 193-E:1 is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:

 193-E:1 Policy and Purpose. The general court declares the following findings, purposes and policy for a constitutionally adequate education:

 I. It is the duty and policy of the state of New Hampshire that public elementary and secondary education shall provide all students with the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to prepare them for successful participation in the social, economic, scientific, technological, and political systems of a free government, now and in the years to come, regardless of where the students live.

 II. Respecting New Hampshire's long tradition of community involvement in which local school districts have responsibility and flexibility in implementing diverse educational approaches to instruction and curriculum tailored to meet student needs, and further recognizing that fiscal capacities and educational needs vary greatly from community to community across the state, it is the purpose of this act to recognize, affirm and establish an integrated system of shared responsibility and shared funding between state and local government that will guarantee full funding and delivery of a constitutionally adequate education to all children regardless of where they live.

 III. New Hampshire’s long history of authorizing local governments, in the form of local school districts, to develop and administer public schools pursuant to a set of minimum standards established by the state has successfully achieved, on average across the state, high quality educational outcomes and high levels of total spending in support of public schools.

 IV. While prior New Hampshire legislative efforts to define and measure the adequacy of public education have relied on input-based methods to set basic education funding levels, the general court finds that defining the concept of adequate education in terms of outcomes and performance provides a more precise and actionable approach that will better identify areas of greatest need for supports.

 V. Data and academic research demonstrate a strong relationship between measures of student poverty such as percentage of students eligible to receive free and reduced price lunches and student outcomes. For example, school districts that have higher percentages of students receiving free and reduced lunches also are more likely in the absence of targeted educational interventions to have lower student performance outcomes.

 VI. The general court finds there is a strong relationship between measures of student poverty such as percentage of students eligible to receive receiving free and reduced lunches and total spending (including both state and local funding sources). For example, school districts that have higher percentages of students receiving free and reduced lunches also have lower total spending.

 VII. The general court makes the ultimate finding that, consistent with academic research and data and based on the above findings, the concept of what constitutes a constitutionally adequate education should be defined in terms of opportunity to achieve a desired level of outcomes for all students in the state regardless of where they live.

 VIII. The general court further makes the ultimate finding that, consistent with academic research and data and based on the above findings, the value of ensuring a constitutionally adequate education throughout the state should be measured by the total funding projected to provide an equal opportunity to achieve the defined statewide target desired level of outcome, regardless of where students live.

 IX. The general court further makes the ultimate finding that the total cost for ensuring an