The Dartmouth

Superior Court Judge David Ruoff in New Hampshire ruled that the state’s special education funding is “constitutionally insufficient” on Aug. 18. Ruoff wrote in his decision that underfunding special education means that “school districts must rely in part on local property tax revenues, assessed at varying rates, to bridge these funding gaps.” As recently as 2024, approximately one in five New Hampshire public school students received special education services, according to New Hampshire School Funding Fairness Project, a group of taxpayers who initiated the lawsuit in 2022. According to government professor and N.H. state Rep. Russell Muirhead, D-Hanover, New Hampshire funds public schools “certainly less” than “most” states in New England, and “a large amount” of that funding comes from local property taxes. This puts an “enormous [tax] burden” on small towns who may have “very large special education expenses.” 

In July, the State Supreme Court ruled that the current level of “base adequacy aid” — funding provided to schools per student — is also unconstitutionally low.