Folks around here know what it means to make do. You stretch a dollar. You patch a roof. You drive the same truck for twenty years and hope it passes inspection. That’s how most of us live in New Hampshire’s small towns. But when it comes to school funding, making do isn’t cutting it anymore. And the latest proposal from Concord feels like another patch job on a system that’s already falling apart.
House Bill 675 is the newest idea on the table. It would cap school district budgets, locking them into last year’s spending plus inflation. Sounds tidy on paper. But out here, it’s not that simple. Schools aren’t factories. You can’t run them on autopilot. Kids change. Needs change. Costs change. And inflation doesn’t cover everything, especially when your roof leaks or your special ed caseload doubles.
The folks pushing this bill say it’ll help with property taxes. That’s the carrot. But the stick is aimed straight at local schools. The message is clear: spend less, no matter what. Doesn’t matter if your heating system’s shot or your teachers are leaving for better pay across the border. Just keep it flat. That’s not budgeting. That’s wishful thinking.
New Hampshire’s been wrestling with school funding for decades. The Claremont decisions said the state has to provide an adequate education and fund it fairly. That was back in the nineties. Since then, we’ve had tweaks and patches, but no real fix. Most of the money still comes from local property taxes. That means rich towns have more, poor towns have less. And the gap keeps growing.
In places like Claremont, Berlin, and Franklin, we’ve been scraping by. Teachers do more with less. Buildings age. Programs get cut. Meanwhile, towns with bigger tax bases can afford turf fields and robotics labs. That’s not equal. That’s not fair. And it sure isn’t constitutional. But instead of fixing the system, lawmakers keep finding ways to shift blame. This budget cap is just another way to dodge the real issue.
What’s frustrating is that the people making these decisions don’t live in the towns that’ll get hit hardest. They don’t see the cracked windows or the outdated textbooks. They don’t sit in classrooms with twenty-five kids and one overworked teacher. They talk about local control, but this bill takes control away. It tells communities they can’t invest in their kids, even if they want to. That’s not local control. That’s top-down austerity.
Some folks say we need to tighten belts. That schools spend too much. But most school budgets are already lean. The big costs are salaries, transportation, and special education. You can’t cut those without hurting kids. And when costs go up, like fuel or insurance, you can’t just pretend they didn’t. Inflation doesn’t cover spikes. It’s a blunt tool for a delicate job.
There’s also the issue of enrollment. Some districts are growing. Others are shrinking. A flat budget doesn’t account for that. If you get more students, you need more teachers, more space, more supplies. If you lose students, you still have fixed costs. You can’t just shut down half a school. The math doesn’t work. And the bill doesn’t care.
What we need is a real solution. One that looks at the whole picture. That means rethinking how we fund schools statewide. Maybe it’s time to revisit the statewide property tax. Maybe it’s time to look at income or sales taxes. Nobody likes taxes, but if we want decent schools, we have to pay for them. And it shouldn’t depend on your zip code.
Education is supposed to be the great equalizer. But in New Hampshire, it’s becoming a mirror of inequality. The rich get richer. The poor get left behind. And bills like HB 675 make it worse. They don’t fix the problem. They just hide it under a fresh coat of paint.
Lawmakers need to stop kicking the can. They need to listen to teachers, parents, and students. They need to walk through the schools they’re affecting. Sit in the classrooms. Talk to the folks who’ve been holding things together with duct tape and grit. Then maybe they’ll understand that budget caps aren’t a solution. They’re a surrender.
New Hampshire can do better. We’ve got smart people, strong communities, and a history of standing up for what’s right. But we need leadership that’s willing to face hard truths. That means admitting the system’s broken and doing the work to fix it. Not just for today, but for the next generation. Because every kid deserves a fair shot, no matter where they live. And that starts with a school system that’s funded to succeed.
