For Immediate Release:                                  Contact: Colin Manning
Thursday, February 28, 2008                                     (603) 271-2121

Governor Lynch Statement Regarding
Senate Education Funding Proposal

Gov. John Lynch today issued the following statement regarding an education funding formula to be introduced in the Senate next week:

"We have a responsibility to ensure every child has an opportunity for a quality education. But this plan clearly demonstrates why we need a constitutional amendment to make that happen. To meet the constraints of the Supreme Court, this plan ends up cutting aid to some of our most needy communities, including Berlin, Allenstown, Claremont, Keene and Pittsfield, and redirects it to wealthier ones.

"To put in place the best possible education policy, the state must be able to consider the fiscal capacity of communities when distributing state education aid. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has said we cannot do that. The result is a plan like this one, which takes aid from the most needy school districts. A constitutional amendment is necessary to give us the flexibility we don't have now to direct more education aid to communities where it is needed most.

"In addition, this plan would re-create donor towns, which is a bad choice for New Hampshire."