Steven Snelling

I strongly support HB 1636 and urge the committee to recommend it as Ought to Pass. For more than three decades, New Hampshire has failed to meet its constitutional obligation to fund an adequate education. As a result, local property taxpayers have been forced to absorb costs that rightly belong at the state level. This quiet cost shift has become unsustainable and has left New Hampshire with one of the highest property tax burdens in the nation. HB 1636 does not impose a new tax. It does not predetermine a revenue source. It does not take decision-making authority away from the Legislature or the public. What it does — and what makes it so important — is direct the Department of Revenue Administration to do the careful, professional work that should have been done years ago: to study realistic, legally sound options for generating sufficient state revenue to meet the minimum adequacy threshold already defined by the New Hampshire Supreme Court. Asking the DRA to present a menu of revenue options is a responsible first step. It allows lawmakers and the public to debate solutions using facts, modeling, and transparent analysis rather than assumptions, slogans, or fear. Without this information, meaningful reform is impossible — and the default outcome remains continued pressure on local property taxpayers. The estimated cost of this study is modest when weighed against the scale of the problem. Property taxpayers are currently covering hundreds of millions of dollars each year in unfunded education costs. Continuing to ignore this structural imbalance costs far more — economically, socially, and in public trust — than the price of a serious revenue analysis. HB 1636 acknowledges an unavoidable reality: New Hampshire cannot meet modern education obligations using outdated funding tools alone. Studying options is not radical. It is prudent governance. Regardless of where one ultimately stands on specific revenue proposals, the public deserves an honest, comprehensive assessment of the choices before us. HB 1636 provides exactly that, and for that reason, it deserves broad support.