New Hampshire’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the state’s current K-12 education funding system is unconstitutional, ordering Governor Kelly Ayotte and the legislature to address major shortfalls. The decision affirms a six-year legal challenge by school districts that argued the state has failed to meet its constitutional obligation to fund an adequate public education.
The court mandated that the state spend at least $7,356 per student annually—far above the existing base level of $4,100. Justices criticized the legislature’s inaction, stating the judicial branch could no longer allow lawmakers to “idle” while schools remain underfunded. Justice James Bassett warned that delay only encourages continued negligence of constitutional duties.
The ruling stems from a 2019 lawsuit led by the Contoocook Valley School District and later joined by 17 other districts and the ACLU of New Hampshire. Plaintiffs claimed the state’s base education funding was inadequate, forcing local taxpayers to cover growing gaps through property taxes and municipal budget increases.
Governor Ayotte, a first-term Republican, rejected the court’s decision, stating New Hampshire already ranks in the top ten nationwide for education spending. She said her administration is reviewing the ruling to determine next steps and criticized what she called judicial overreach into legislative matters.
The average cost of educating a child in New Hampshire reached $21,545 in the 2023–24 school year, highlighting the wide gap between actual costs and state contributions. The court’s ruling does not require immediate payment of the $7,356 figure, but obliges lawmakers to create a plan to meet it over time.
Andrew Cline, president of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, said the decision was mixed, noting that while the state must find additional funding, the school districts did not receive all the immediate relief they had sought.
The National Education Association of New Hampshire called the ruling a long-overdue validation of systemic underfunding. NEA-NH President Megan Tuttle called the court’s rebuke a moral and legal demand for legislative action.
