Public education is critical for our quality of life in New Hampshire. Parents need to know that their children will have access to high quality education, no matter what their financial circumstances, and no matter what town they live in. But public education is not just important for families with school age children. Our businesses need to know that they will be able to hire workers with good basic math, reading, and reasoning skills. Consumers should be able to have confidence that the people who are providing them services have the fundamental competence that education provides.
It costs money to provide good public education, and the state should pay the greatest share of that public education. Over-reliance on local property tax for education means that towns that have a lot of high value business property or non-resident second homes pay far less in property tax than primarily residential towns with lower property values. The quality of a child's education should not be an accident of geography, and the most effective way to create a proper balance is state funding of schools.
A side note:
The worst way to fund education is to siphon off public education money so a small number of students can get vouchers for private education. This has been the Republican plan for the last decade.
It costs money to provide good public education, and the state should pay the greatest share of that public education. Over-reliance on local property tax for education means that towns that have a lot of high value business property or non-resident second homes pay far less in property tax than primarily residential towns with lower property values. The quality of a child's education should not be an accident of geography, and the most effective way to create a proper balance is state funding of schools.
A side note:
The worst way to fund education is to siphon off public education money so a small number of students can get vouchers for private education. This has been the Republican plan for the last decade.