New Hampshire: The Real Facts

NH State Rep. David Hess offers his views on the on-going NH education funding saga in the Concord Monitor......

There is a dangerous premise circulating in the State House that not only flies in the face of the Supreme Court ruling on education funding, but could also represent the first step in a backdoor effort to enact a broad-based tax.

The court was clear in ruling that the legislative and executive branches of government have a four-fold responsibility: define an adequate education; decide what it costs; provide and pay for it; and ensure its delivery through accountability.

In a joint op-ed piece ("State House Memo," Monitor, Jan. 28), the Democratic chairs of the House and Senate Education committees wrote that legislators need only address the definition of an adequate education and should postpone the resolution of the remaining three components of the crisis until some indefinite date.

This is defective thinking and just plain bad public policy.

Those who promote this supposition have ignored the fact that all four elements must be addressed simultaneously to enact meaningful legislation. The education crisis is not just about the definition of an adequate education.

When shopping for an automobile, would you enter the showroom, select a Kia, a Ford or a Cadillac and drive it off the lot without knowing how much it would cost or whether you had enough money to pay for it? Of course not! Without having to worry about the finances, we'd all pick the Cadillac.

If we wouldn't think of doing this in a personal transaction of less than $50,000, then how can we justify doing it when the issue is the education of 200,000 children with a potential price tag of over $1.3 billion? To state the proposition is to reveal its absurdity.

The Telegraph of Nashua has called this approach a new stalling tactic on school aid. The Concord Monitor says it is not good enough. The Union Leader describes it as "Hello, Mr. Broad Base." All these descriptions apply. Additionally, the attorney general has left no doubt that if we act only on the definition, we run the risk that the court will take over all four issues.

We have the ability to address the issue and share the responsibility to resolve it in its entirety sooner rather than later. Failure to do so would demonstrate a lack of will and determination and leave the lingering suspicion: Is this 25 percent solution a rung on the broad-based tax ladder - and a threat to the New Hampshire Advantage that we enjoy?

State Rep. David Hess, a Hooksett Republican, is the deputy minority leader.