New Hampshire Advocates Look to Public Engagement to Determine "What are the Components of a Quality Education in Our State?"

In Claremont v. Governor, New Hampshire's school funding litigation, the state supreme court held that the legislature and the governor have the responsibility to define "the specifics of" an adequate education. Now advocates in New Hampshire are taking the lead in addressing just that by asking: "What are the components of a quality education in our state?"

The New Hampshire Citizens' Voice Project, sponsored by the Claremont Coalition in partnership with educational leaders, advocates and higher education/civic engagement professionals aims to give New Hampshire citizens more of a role in determining what schools need in order to be successful. The NHCVP is currently convening a series of public forums that seek to define adequacy and quality in education. The forums are taking place in fifteen geographically and economically diverse towns; they began in Spring 2003 and will run through Spring 2004. A compilation and synthesis of the results will be completed and presented at a statewide conference in Spring 2004. Recognizing the importance of public engagement to achieving true, long-lasting education reform in their state, the Citizens' Voice Project will use the data from these forums to help shape public policy over the next few years.

Reports from two of the forums are now available. The Citizens' Voice website will post subsequent meeting reports as they are completed.

In addition to the forums, input is being sought through their interactive website. Visitors are encouraged to share their views on their bulletin board forums or in one of their chat rooms.

Public engagement has proven to be an important component of successful school reform and school funding reform in several states, including Kentucky, Maryland and New York, and is on-going in those states as well as Illinois, Kansas and Pennsylvania.

Prepared by Melissa Mangino, November 10, 2003