NH education subcommittee recommends ITL for adequacy bill, orders interim study on property-tax and opportunity proposals

The Education Funding Committee's Subcommittee on Adequacy and Funding Sources met in a work session and recommended against advancing the principal adequacy bill, HB 651, while pushing two major proposals into interim study and recommending ITL for a study bill on revenue methods.

Representative Ames, chair of the subcommittee, opened the session by noting the group's charge to evaluate four bills (numbers discussed as 491, 651, 734 and 772) and to return a recommendation to the full committee before November 21. "These bills will all be reported out of the committee before November 21 and brought to the house floor in the first session of January," Ames said, framing the timetable the panel considered.

Why it matters: The panel's recommendations shape which measures the full Education Funding Committee will consider in the 2026 session. The debate tied technical questions about how to compute a constitutionally adequate base per pupil — including figures cited from recent litigation — to the politically fraught question of where the state would find the money.

Main outcome and votes

- HB 491 (study committee on funding methods): subcommittee recommended ITL (Inexpedient to Legislate). Motion by Representative Ames; seconded by Representative Erf. Vote: 4–3 in favor of ITL. The subcommittee recorded this as a recommendation to the full committee.

- HB 651 (changes to the adequacy formula and differential aid): subcommittee recommended ITL. Motion by Representative Ladd; seconded by Representative Papovich Muller. Vote: 4–3 in favor of ITL. The bill was debated longest and drew the most sharply divided views.

- H…