Legislative Updates by Rep. Maureen Mooney for September, 2023

Greetings!

Here is wishing all Merrimack students a great, new school year ahead! I want to especially give my regards to the Class of 2024 at Merrimack High School! Go Tomahawks!

As a new school year begins, I thought I would use this Legislative Update to review some aspects of public school funding.

New Hampshire has a Constitutional obligation to fund its public schools. In Part II, Article 83 of the New Hampshire Constitution, it reads: “Knowledge and learning, generally diffused through a community, being essential to the preservation of a free government; and spreading the opportunities and advantages of education through the various parts of the country, being highly conducive to promote this end; it shall be the duty of the legislators and magistrates, in all future periods of this government, to cherish the interest of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries and public schools...”

Public school funding can be a complicated subject and it frequently changes through legislation and the state budget process. New Hampshire public schools are funded through state and local revenue sources. Here is an updated flow chart of public school funding in New Hampshire: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1divO79ZP0z63KIp9ZNJF6vchx-iBbiy6/view?usp=sharing

Recent amendments to state education funding were adopted in the current two-year state budget, including:

• In the newly adopted 2024-2025 state budget, the state adequacy rate per pupil was increased from $3,561.27 to $4,100;
• In the newly adopted 2024-2025 state budget, the free and reduced priced meal rate per pupil was increased from $1,780.63 to $2,300;
• In the newly adopted 2024-2025 state budget, the English language learner rate per pupil was increased from $697.77 to $800;
• In the newly adopted 2024-2025 state budget, the special education services rate per pupil was increased from $1,915.86 to $2,100;
• In the newly adopted 2024-2025 state budget, monies for each third grade pupil with a score below the proficient level on the reading component of the state assessment has been eliminated.
• In the newly adopted 2024-2025 state budget, the public charter school per pupil rate was increased from $7,300 to $9,000 (note: public charter schools do not receive local revenue funds).
• In the newly adopted 2024-2025 state budget, Merrimack will receive approx. $15.8 million in education funding. Here is a comparison chart of each New Hampshire town/city education funding amount in the’24-’25 state budget: https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/LBA/Budget/operating_budgets/2024-2025/House_Finance/Ed%20Funding%20Compare%20(Current%20-%20Governor%20-%20House%20-%20Senate).pdf
• Here is a comparison chart of per pupil amounts in each NH school district from 2021-2022 to get an idea of how Merrimack compares (note: an updated chart to reflect the latest numbers should be out by early winter): https://www.education.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt326/files/inline-documents/sonh/cpp-increases-by-district-2000-2022.pdf

See you around town!

Rep. Maureen Mooney is in her fifth term as a NH State Representative serving Merrimack. She serves on the House Finance Committee (Vice Chairman of Division III), the Fiscal Committee (alternate), and is co-chair of the Speaker’s Advisory Group. Her website is: www.votemooney.com and Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/maureenmooneynh.