From ‘A Book, an Idea and a Goat,’ Andru Volinsky’s weekly newsletter on Substack is primarily devoted to writing about the national movement for fair school funding and other means of effecting social change. Here’s the link:  https://substack.com/@andruvolinsky?utm_source=profile-page

By ANDRU VOLINSKY

Geez, Manchester.

Half a dozen or so school districts have recently failed financially in NH. Manchester is not far behind. The districts that have failed are like zombies whose finances don’t support a robust school program for the children who attend them. They keep the doors open by rescinding new teacher contracts, deferring maintenance, cutting support staff who are needed in their own right and who reduce teacher burden, and by underserving children who require extensive special ed services. Claremont was the latest to fail but so has Pittsfield and the districts that comprise the Merrimack Valley School District (Penacook, Boscawen, Andover, Loudon, Webster, and Salisbury). Financial mismanagement finally blew up their budgets and undermined trust in district administrators. But it all happened in the context of a very broken state school funding system.

What do these districts have in common?

They are located in the NH towns with the lowest property wealth in the state. NH has a 1950s-style school funding system that relies more heavily on local property taxes than any other state in America. It continues to do so after multiple court decisions directing the state to step up with state funds that would mitigate the problems. Although the state’s share has increased from 8 percent of the cost of public education in NH when we first sued in the Claremont case in 1991 to 22 percent today, it should be closer to 50 percent. A recent court decision in the Rand case has confirmed that the state’s contribution should double to meet constitutional parameters. These are the facts, regardless of the appointment of Supreme Court justices intent on undermining the legal principles set out in the Claremont cases and, in the process, screwing over property taxpayers.

The NH towns with the ten lowest property values have half the property wealth of the average school district. These ten communities are:

• Charlestown
• Claremont
• Berlin
• Pittsfield
• Boscawen
• Penacook
• Troy
• Greenville
• Hinsdale
• BrooklinePledge your support

About 6 percent of the state’s student population attend schools in these districts. So why worry about the state system? Why not just help them?

It’s because places like Manchester are not far behind. Manchester, the state’s largest school district with 12,000 kids, has three quarters of the taxable wealth of the average NH community and it has a tax cap that makes it even harder to raise money for schools. And it shows.

Manchester is the lowest spending school district in the state.

Manchester spends $3,811 less per pupil than the state average. It spends $7,754 less per student than Portsmouth. It’s needs are higher than average. Fifty-five percent of Manchester school children live in poverty. Twenty-three percent of Manchester school kids qualify for special ed. By contrast, 16 percent of the kids in the Portsmouth School District live in poverty and less than 18 percent qualify for SPED. Some schools are even more challenged than the Manchester District averages.

Manchester’s Beech Street Elementary School (k-4) has 86 percent of its student population living in poverty.

Manchester’s assessments are uniformly well below state averages.

Across the district, only 29 percent of students are proficient in English, 19 percent in math and 15 percent in science. Assessments have been flat over the last three years. Manchester has four high schools, at three of them, 10 percent or less have achieved proficiency in math. More than a quarter of Manchester’s high school students don’t finish high school in four years. Less than 5 percent fail to finish in Portsmouth.

Manchester residents are told their taxes are too high. This is the best they can do.

Here’s the truth: Manchester’s school taxes are two dollars less than the state average. Manchester’s combined education and municipal taxes (police, fire, trash, roads, water, sewer, etc) are only 3 percent higher than the state average. Manchester, you have a state school funding problem but you also have a local commitment problem.

Here’s more bad news, Manchester. Trump and McMahon are gutting federal funding for public education. While NH overall only receives 8 or 9 percent of its public school funding from the feds, Manchester gets more than 21 percent in federal funding. (Portsmouth gets 6.8 percent.) Decades of failed political leadership across the state and in Manchester mean lost federal funding can only be made up with increased property taxes.

And don’t think Kelly Ayotte will come to help you. She’s made clear that she believes school districts should be on their own financially.

Cindy Stewart, who is running for Manchester School Board, and Representative David Preece attended my book talk and discussion about Manchester schools last Saturday. They get it. Let’s support them.

Here’s another thought, instead of running from this tough issue, how about the Manchester Chamber of Commerce or Manchester Proud invite me for a book talk or make The Last Bake Sale recommended reading for your members?

Ayotte Nominates Hitman Bryan Gould to the Supreme Court

This is from an op-ed by Kathy Hubert of Newport published in the Union Leader. Hubert knows Gould well from her school funding work, she’s board chair of the NH Fair School Funding Project, and her time working with the NH/VT Solid Waste District. Gould’s confirmation hearing is Friday, September 12th at 10:30 in Council Chambers at the Statehouse.

Mr. Gould acted as NH/VT Solid Waste Project counsel…he was unresponsive to the needs of the heavily burdened host communities of Newport and Claremont. He often appeared aligned with private industry rather than serving the people whose lives were most affected and whom he was counsel for.

Since then, Gould’s legal and lobbying work has continued to benefit the waste industry, often in opposition to New Hampshire’s environmental protections. Mr. Gould currently represents Casella Waste Systems in litigation against the state Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) over the Dalton landfill.

More recently, Acuity Management has pursued aggressive legal action to convert a small recycling center in Claremont into a massive transfer station for construction and demolition debris up to 500 tons daily in a residential area — near schools, homes, and sensitive ecological zones…

Even more alarming is reporting that Governor Ayotte selected Mr. Gould to weaken or overturn the long-standing Claremont school funding rulings. As the NH Journal quoted: “This pick is about one case, and one case only: Claremont… Gould is a torpedo pointed right at the Claremont decision. That’s the ‘legacy’…

Does this nominee serve the people of New Hampshire or the wealthy corporate clients who stand to benefit from his elevation? I believe the answer is clear: In my opinion Mr. Gould does not have the standards of integrity and independence that we should expect of a Supreme Court justice….

Don’t count on the Council to reject Gould. The only chance to stop this appointment is for Governor Ayotte to withdraw the nomination because it is too politically painful for her to go forward. If Gould becomes the next Supreme Court justice, Ayotte owns the havoc he will cause.

LSRs are due

Legislators in NH start the process of legislating by asking the non-partisan Office of Legislative services to draft new bills. The requests are called “LSRs.” The deadline for submitting LSRs for state senators is September 12th. For house members it’s September 19th. If you want improvements in how we fund schools, you’d better get your elected state rep or senator moving. They need to submit their concepts for rehabilitating NH’s failed school funding system very soon.

Nashua

I was a guest on the Gregg Radio Show on Monday to talk about The Last Bake Sale and the current state of school funding. Rep. Alicia Gregg was the host. The other guest was Rep. Heather Raymond who is also running for re-election to the Nashua School Board. Here’s a link to the recording of the show. We should definitely support Heather’s re-election to the Nashua Board of Education on November 4th. Here’s a cheesy selfie of Heather and me after the show.