NH judge finds - once again - state is underfunding education

A New Hampshire judge has again ruled that the state is underfunding education.

In a ruling issued Monday in the Rand School funding lawsuit, Rockingham Superior Court Judge David Ruoff found New Hampshire’s varying education property tax rate violates Part II, Article 5 of the New Hampshire Constitution — but stopped short of ordering the state to increase funding levels.

Monday’s ruling comes less than two months after the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruling in the ConVal lawsuit — which upheld the “minimum, conservative threshold” of $7,356.01 for base adequacy. In both cases, the courts left the question of how to fund New Hampshire schools and how should money be spent on education for state legislators to decide.

Judge Ruoff’s ruling in Superior Court involved funding provided by t