Foundation urges court to uphold children’s constitutional right to education

The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation has filed a “friend of the court” brief with the New Hampshire Supreme Court supporting New Hampshire children’s constitutional right to receive an adequate education and urging the court to hold the State accountable for providing fair and sufficient funding for that education. 

The brief was filed in the Rand school-funding case. In its appeal of a Superior Court ruling, the State has argued that past New Hampshire Supreme Court decisions on the Claremont school-funding cases of 1993 and 1997 were flawed and should be overturned. 

The Foundation asks the court to “affirm the trial court’s order and reject the State’s efforts to eliminate or impair New Hampshire children’s constitutional right to an education.” 

The Foundation argues in its brief: “This fundamental right remains the cornerstone to developing an educated citizenry capable of participating civically as well as succeeding economically. The protection of this fundamental right … will promote civic engagement, sustain our democracy, and preserve New Hampshire’s economic stability and wellbeing.” 

The Foundation also filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the Supreme Court in the ConVal school funding case in 2024. The Supreme Court ruled on that case last year, upholding a lower court’s decision that the State’s base adequate education aid does not provide sufficient funds to provide an adequate education — and is therefore unconstitutionally low.  

In its latest brief, the Foundation asserts that, “…for the good of New Hampshire as a whole, the State should not be allowed to continue to shirk its constitutional obligation to fund an adequate education for all New Hampshire children.”  

The Foundation is again represented by Michael Delaney of the law firm McLane Middleton. 

“Our purpose at the Charitable Foundation is to help make New Hampshire a community where everyone can thrive,” said Foundation President and CEO Shawn Morehead. “All children — no matter their family circumstances or the happenstance of ZIP code — deserve an education that allows them to become active and engaged participants in our democracy and economy. That idea is enshrined in our constitution. Looking forward, we hope the state will protect this right and invest in a robust education for all of our children.” 

The brief outlines disparities in outcomes between New Hampshire students in the wealthiest communities and students in the most property-poor communities: 

“In a comparison based on equalized property values per pupil, students in the communities that fall in the bottom quartile (that is, the 25% of municipalities with the least property wealth per student) perform worse than those in the highest quartile (the top 25% of wealthiest communities by this measure) on every single proficiency assessment: mathematics, reading, and science, at every tested grade level.”  

The brief points out the correlation between education and heightened civic awareness and deeper engagement in the democratic process. And that failing to provide all of our children with an adequate education will translate into deepening workforce challenges in the future.  

The brief argues further that, if the state does not provide requisite resources to fund public education, inequities will persist — and get worse. 

“Despite more than 30 years of this Court patiently urging the Legislature to act to meet its constitutional obligations, State support for local communities remains inequitable and falls far short of what schools need to help our children learn and thrive. New Hampshire has the dubious distinction of ranking last in the entire nation for the percentage of public education revenue provided through State funding… 

“Funding inadequacies and tax rate disparities have helped certain pockets of New Hampshire prosper, while other New Hampshire children and communities have fallen even further behind.” 

As New Hampshire’s statewide community foundation, the Charitable Foundation has long supported public education, including recent investments in nonprofit organizations dedicated to strengthening New Hampshire’s public schools and improving student outcomes. The Foundation is also the largest private source of post-secondary scholarship assistance in the state. In 2025, the Foundation provided nearly $8 million in scholarship support to more than 1,800 New Hampshire students. 

“Public education is a public good that benefits us all,” the brief states, “whether we have children in the school system or not, and whether we live in property-rich communities or not. We all rely on an educated populace to become the nurses, doctors, nonprofit leaders, teachers, entrepreneurs, public-health researchers, elected officials, lawyers, judges, community volunteers, engineers, emergency responders, builders, service professionals, homecare workers, and others who support every facet of life in New Hampshire…

“When the State fails to adequately support all public schools to meet the educational needs of all our children, we consign some of our kids to achieving less than their full potential, and to worse outcomes.”   

The Court will schedule oral arguments for the state and plaintiffs and make a ruling on the appeal.  

The Foundation’s full brief can be read here.