City files suit to recover state education funding shortfall

posted on: 08/20/2015

City Manager J. Michael Joyal, Jr. announced today the City is suing the State of New Hampshire to recoup nearly $14 million in education adequacy funding not provided to the City of Dover over several years. A petition for declaratory judgment was filed in Strafford County Superior Court on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2015. The City is represented by Attorney Andru Volinsky.

The petition for declaratory judgment can be viewed here.

Dover Mayor Karen Weston released a letter to Dover citizens, explaining why the City has chosen to pursue legal action against the state to recover years of state funding shortfalls.

Her letter follows:

A letter to Dover citizens from Mayor Karen Weston

I am writing this to explain to the citizens of Dover why we have decided to file a lawsuit against the State of New Hampshire concerning its educational funding system, and what this lawsuit means.

In the landmark Claremont education funding case decided by our state’s Supreme Court, the primary principle established is that the state must fund a constitutionally adequate education for each and every child in our public schools. Over the years since Claremont was decided, the state accomplished this promise by adopting a formula that defines and pays the costs of a constitutional education on a per pupil basis. The educational funding follows the student. If the student moves from one school district to another, the funding moves with him or her, with one exception.

Pursuant to a state law, first adopted in 2009, the amount that the state payment can grow from year to year is capped at eight percent. This cap exists without regard to the number of students who move into a school district or first become of age to attend school. Currently, state statute caps the education payments that a school district may receive from the state at 108%, regardless of whether the district’s growth is 110%, 120% or more.

We should be proud that Dover is a vibrant, growing and healthy community. We are thriving and businesses and individuals alike are choosing to come here because of who we are and how we do business. Yet the current state law penalizes Dover schools and the Dover taxpayer for our success because state payments are arbitrarily limited. Since 2009, the state has underpaid Dover – and other similarly growing communities – each and every year. This fiscal year alone, Dover will lose over $1.4 million in state constitutional aid because of the arbitrary cap.

The City Council and I voted to act quickly to hire experienced attorneys to challenge this arbitrary cap on educational funding, not only because it’s the right and fiscally prudent thing to do for Dover and our residents, but because complex constitutional considerations make it difficult to win back payments from the state that should have been made in the past. We likely can only work to fix the problem of an arbitrary cap going forward. The first of four constitutional education payments from the state this fiscal year is due on Sept. 1 and this payment will be hundreds of thousands of dollars short. If we do not act now, this shortfall will be difficult to recoup.

Our city is a great and wonderful place, and it is an honor to serve as your mayor, alongside our dedicated City Council. We have strong schools led by talented teachers and great administrators. We did not undertake this decision lightly. Our intention is to support the Dover School Board in providing an adequate education for our students. We know that we will incur some expense by commencing this suit and that we may bear some risk by undertaking this effort. However, we believe that Dover’s children and taxpayers are well worth the fight. We hope to resolve the dispute as quickly as possible and will do all that we can to work with critical decision makers to find an acceptable legal remedy as soon as possible.

As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Mayor Karen Weston can be reached at k.weston@dover.nh.gov and at 603-743-6894.

Karen Weston, Mayor