NH House Rejects Lynch Education Amendment

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"Democrats Say Republicans Didn't Give Proposal Proper Hearing"


CONCORD, N.H. -- Showing again the difficulty in finding compromise on school funding, the House on Wednesday rejected Gov. John Lynch's proposed constitutional change to give lawmakers more control over school aid and moved the fight to the Senate.

The House voted 264-114 against adopting Lynch's proposal and later killed it. Republican House Speaker William O'Brien scheduled the vote Wednesday rather than consider the proposal when the House reconvenes in January. A House-passed amendment awaits a vote in the Senate.

Democrats said that didn't give the public enough time to digest the idea and fought against voting on the proposal. They also called the vote a political stunt, since it was held the week after Thanksgiving.

"Amending our constitution is serious work, and I would have expected this amendment to go through the normal hearing process, with an opportunity for careful review and public input. Unfortunately, this was not the case," Lynch said after the vote.

He said he is willing to work with "anyone who shares the goal of passing an amendment that strengthens education in New Hampshire."

The House and Senate had each passed proposed amendments, but until Wednesday's House vote, each had postponed final votes on the other chamber's measure. In killing Lynch's amendment, the House also killed the Senate's proposal.

Both legislative proposals would give more control to lawmakers than Lynch proposed doing. The House amendment, authored by O'Brien, would give the state full discretion to decide how much, if anything, to pay for aid. The Senate will vote on it next year and could amend it to include Lynch's proposal, its proposal that the House killed or something new.

"The Senate continues to search for a solution to this long-standing problem concerning education funding. We hope the House remains committed to a compromise that will get enough votes to pass both houses and ultimately be approved by the voters in November," Senate President Peter Bragdon said in a statement.

House Republican Leader D.J. Bettencourt of Salem argued the vote was to get a sense of the where the House stood on the amendment so Republican House and Senate leaders could continue negotiating with the Democratic governor.

But state Rep. Gary Richardson, D-Hopkinton, didn't buy it and countered that the House action was "for purely political reasons."

Some supported Lynch's proposal as a good compromise. Others said Lynch's proposal would give the courts too much say.

State Rep. Gregory Sorg, R-Easton, said the amendment would do little to change things.

Lynch's amendment stated that the Legislature shall have the authority and responsibility to define reasonable school education standards, hold them accountable for meeting the standards and mitigate local disparities in their financial ability to provide an adequate education. It also would give lawmakers full discretion to determine aid amounts and its distribution.

The House and Senate passed different proposed amendments. Both legislative measures would give more control to lawmakers than Lynch proposed doing. The House amendment, authored by O'Brien, would give the state full discretion to decide how much, if anything to pay for aid.

Lynch's amendment was expected to fail, but the vote shows the difficulty lawmakers have had in changing the constitution since the state Supreme Court issued its landmark school funding rulings.

Republicans don't need Lynch to pass an amendment. They have a 294-104 margin over Democrats in the House, where they need 239 votes for passage, and a 19-5 edge in the Senate, where 15 votes are necessary. But O'Brien and Bragdon believe they need the popular Democrat's support to win voter approval at the ballot box.

If an amendment is placed on the ballot, two-thirds of voters would need to pass it for the change to take effect.

The state Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling in 1997 requiring New Hampshire to provide all public school children with an adequate education. After that ruling, the state began providing a base amount per pupil to all communities, funded by state taxes and a new state property tax.

New Hampshire lawmakers have tried and failed dozens of times over the years to nullify the ruling.

The Supreme Court's rulings require the state to pay the full cost of an adequate education, which means every community gets some aid. The rulings do not prohibit the state from sending additional aid to communities, but Lynch and other critics say the state has little extra money to spare after complying with the court mandate to pay for adequacy.

Lynch said his amendment would allow the state to target more aid while maintaining court review if the state fails to reasonably meet its responsibilities.

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