O P I N I O N
THE SOAPBOX
Stand up. Speak up. It’s Your Turn.
For the families of Manchester, debates about education funding in Concord are not abstract policy discussions — they are local issues that shape our classrooms, our property tax bills, and the future of our city’s children.
For more than 25 years, the New Hampshire Supreme Court has said that the state — not local property taxpayers alone — bears the constitutional responsibility to provide every child with an adequate public education.
The court first made that clear in the Claremont decisions in the 1990s. Last year, the court reaffirmed that the state’s current level of education funding still falls short of that obligation.
Yet despite these rulings, the basic structure of how New Hampshire funds public education has changed very little.
Our state continues to rely more heavily on local property taxes to fund schools than almost any other state in the nation.
For cities like Manchester, that reality has real consequences.
Manchester is proud of its public schools and the dedicated educators who serve our students. More than 13,000 children attend Manchester public schools, and like communities across the state, we face growing pressures — from rising housing costs to increasing demands on our classrooms.
Manchester also serves a large number of students with additional needs. More than half of Manchester’s public school students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, one of the highest percentages in New Hampshire. That statistic reflects the economic realities facing many families in our city and highlights why stable state support for public education is so important.
When the state underfunds education, the difference must be made up locally. That means property taxes carry a heavier burden.
In Manchester, roughly two-thirds of the local property tax bill supports education, including the Manchester School District and the statewide education property tax.
For homeowners, seniors on fixed incomes, and families trying to buy their first home in Manchester, that burden is real.
It is also one of the reasons housing affordability has become such a pressing issue in our city.
At the same time, the students sitting in Manchester classrooms today will shape the future of our community. They will become the nurses in our hospitals, the workers in our businesses, the entrepreneurs who start companies, and the civic leaders who guide our city forward.
New Hampshire’s children — including the thousands who attend Manchester public schools — are our future.
Without a strong and adequately funded public education system, that future becomes uncertain.
Recently, a number of civic leaders and policymakers have begun discussing potential solutions to the state’s education funding challenges. One proposal that has received attention is the so-called “3-3 Tax Savings Plan,” which would combine a statewide income tax and a uniform property tax to provide stable funding for schools.
Reasonable people will have different opinions about that particular proposal.
But what should concern everyone is how quickly the broader conversation about education funding has been shut down in Concord.
Earlier this year, attempts were made in the Legislature to reopen discussion about possible funding solutions. Those efforts failed before the debate could even begin.
That is unfortunate.
Manchester residents understand that complex problems require honest conversations. We see the impact of education funding decisions every day in our community.
We see it in our schools. We see it in our neighborhoods. And we see it in our property tax bills.
The question facing New Hampshire is not whether the current system is working perfectly. The courts have already said it is not.
The question is whether we are willing to engage in a thoughtful discussion about how to fix it.
Manchester has always been a city that believes in hard work, opportunity, and investing in the next generation.
Those values should guide this conversation.
Because when we invest in education, we are investing not only in our children, but in the future of Manchester itself.
And that is a conversation worth having.
David Preece represents Manchester in the New Hampshire House of Representatives and is a longtime urban and regional planner who previously served as executive director of the Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission.
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