What Crossed Over: School Funding
April 17th, 2026
March 26 marked the halfway point of the 2026 legislative session. At this point, bills have either “crossed over” – gone from one chamber to another – or died. In this series, we’ll take a high-level look at the issues we are following, which bills made it to Crossover, which didn’t, and what we’re watching as the session marches on.
In short, no meaningful improvement will be made to school funding this year. Bills to increase funding failed, bills to decrease revenue have survived, and the legislature has gone out of its way to undermine the court’s ruling that NH’s school funding is insufficient. The result is that schools, particularly those in property poor communities, will continue to have to do more with less, and property tax payers will not see any relief.
What made it to Crossover
Revenues
Several bills still working through the process would decrease revenue available in the Education Trust Fund and the General Fund. These include HB 1597 (Rep. Janigian), which raises the business profits tax deduction cap and HB 155 (Rep. Sweeney), which reduces the rate of the Business Enterprise Tax.
Another bill, CACR 12 (Sen. Lang), would harm the possibility of raising revenue in the future by making it virtually impossible for the legislature to enact new broad-based taxes. This proposed constitutional resolution was heard in the House earlier this month and will be the subject of a committee work session on April 27.
Expenditures
HB 1815 (Rep. Lynn) flew through the process, and was signed by the governor on March 30. The speed with which this bill moved was not a sign of its broad support – in fact, quite the opposite. In the face of overwhelming opposition, the House and Senate pushed forward this bill that limits the state’s responsibility for education funding and opens the door for the state to decrease its contribution to education in the future. Such a decrease would not make education cheaper; it would simply push more of the burden onto local property tax payers.
HB 1121 (Rep. Ladd) would have explicitly defined the components of an adequate education that are to be included in calculating the cost. The bill was missing components that some consider critical (such as school nurses and paraprofessionals) and raised questions about what might happen as needs change. The bill passed the House but was referred to interim study by the Senate.
HB 1563 (Rep. Ladd) changes the special education funding formula, lowering the threshold for districts to receive state aid but increasing districts’ financial responsibility for higher-cost special education students. The bill also creates substantial new documentation requirements for districts. After passing the House, the bill passed an initial Senate vote and is now with the Senate Finance committee.
Local budgets
HB 1355 (Rep. Noble) would change what happens if local voters fail to approve their school budget. Currently, districts can include a default budget, which essentially serves as a backup if the desired budget fails. This bill would remove the default, stipulating that if the proposed budget failed, districts would revert back to the previous year’s budget. This Senate Election Law and Municipal Affairs committee will hear this bill on April 28.
What didn’t make it to Crossover
Bills that would have increased funding or revenue generally failed. Both SB 582 (Sen. Altschiller) and SB 584 (Sen. Prentiss), which would have increased based adequacy funding and special education funding, failed in the Senate. Attempts by Rep. Spilsbury (HB 1800) and Rep. Ames (HB 1787) to rethink the statewide education property tax were referred to interim study. Rep. Vallone’s bill (HB 1708) to lower SWEPT and make up the difference through the Business Profits Tax was voted inexpedient to legislate. Even bills to study ways to raise revenue (HB 1579 from Rep. Fellows and HB 1636 from Rep. Oppel) failed to advance.