House Finance Division 2 shifts Education Trust Fund allocations, increases special education funding and trims UNH support

House Finance Division 2 presented a package of education‑sector changes and related revenue moves intended to balance the biennial budget while protecting core adequacy funding for local public schools.

What the division proposed: the package (1) moved certain line items that had previously been funded from the Education Trust Fund (ETF) into the general fund while keeping adequacy grant amounts essentially unchanged for FY2026; (2) altered the revenue split that feeds ETF (shifting a portion of some tax lines between general fund and ETF so ETF still supports the remaining ETF items); (3) increased the special education per‑pupil weight to $3,140 for FY2027; (4) adjusted charter school and dual‑enrollment funding mechanics; (5) redirected about $15,000,000 in annually recurring “unique” Fidelity 529 program funds to partially supplant UNH general fund support (the division reduced UNH general‑fund support and applied the Fidelity funds to the UNH line); and (6) set…