This bill aims to overhaul the funding structure for education by replacing the statewide education property tax (SWEPT) with a local revenue contribution from political subdivisions, effective April 1, 2025. The local contribution will be defined as the lesser of the state education property tax warrant for that year or the cost of providing an adequate education. The bill amends existing laws to reflect this change, particularly in the calculation of education grants for municipalities, which will now deduct the local contribution instead of the education tax warrant. Additionally, it introduces temporary adjustments to local education tax rates and billing practices for the 2026 tax year to facilitate this transition.

Significant deletions include the repeal of RSA 76:3 and RSA 76:8, which relate to the education tax and the commissioner's warrant, effectively eliminating the SWEPT. The bill also proposes a new local contribution requirement of $334,875,580, while removing the current SWEPT revenue of $363,516,836, leading to a decrease in total local revenue from adequacy and local contributions by $28,641,257. The adequacy grant remains unchanged at $716,948,319, but the overall final state grant will also drop to this amount, indicating a reduction in total state grants. Furthermore, the bill repeals the Low and Moderate Homeowners’ Property Tax Relief, which historically provided around $1.1 million in relief payments, with the fiscal impact of this repeal uncertain for future years.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 198:38, 198:41, 32:b-5, 76:15-a, 76:15-, 76:3