New Hampshire Court Declares Funding System Unconstitutional

Plaintiffs win motion for summary judgment

On March 7, 2006, Justice William Groff of State Superior Court declared that the state’s school funding statutes violate the state constitution and granted plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment in Londonderry School District v. State. Citing earlier decisions by the New Hampshire Supreme Court in the Claremont v. Governor litigation, the court held that the state has failed to comply with the supreme court’s four mandates:

define an adequate education, determine the cost, fund it with constitutional taxes, and ensure its delivery through accountability. (quotations omitted). Claremont v. Governor (2002).

Collectively, “[t]hese four mandates,” the court stated, “constitute the State’s duty to provide a constitutionally adequate public education.”

State failed all four requirements

Justice Groff found that “the Legislature has completely failed to fulfill its constitutional duty” to define an adequate education by giving it specific substantive content, “as required by the Supreme Court.” The court also concluded that “the legislature has abdicated its duty” to determine the cost of an adequate education and, instead, “has arbitrarily set the amount which it is willing to dedicate to the task of providing an adequate education.”

Justice Groff quoted the Claremont court’s discussion of accountability in its 2002 decision:

Accountability means that the State must provide a definition of a constitutionally adequate education, the definition must have standards, and the standards must be subject to meaningful application so that it is possible to determine whether, in delegating its obligation to provide a constitutionally adequate education, the State has fulfilled its duty.

After reviewing the state’s current provisions and pointing out several weaknesses, Justice Groff held that “the existing statutes, regulations, and rules fail to satisfy the requirement of accountability, an essential component of the State’s duty to provide a constitutionally adequate education.”

Finally, the court determined that the current school funding statute creates non-uniform property tax rates, without justification, and therefore violates the requirement that “the tax must be administered in a manner that is equal in valuation and uniform in rate throughout the State.” Claremont II (1997).

It is anticipated that the state will appeal the ruling to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.

Prepared by Molly A. Hunter, March 13, 2006