New education funding lawsuit focuses on town-to-town inequality of property taxes
“The village of Penacook is 6 miles up the road from downtown Concord. In nearly all respects, its residents are Concord residents.
But in the matter of paying for education, residents face different realities. Concord property owners paid $12.46 in annual local property taxes for every $1,000 of their home’s value in 2021. Penacook property owners, whose students attend a different school district, paid $15.41. For a $400,000 home, the difference between locations is $1,180 per year.
The discrepancy – and others like it among towns throughout the state – is a central theme of a new lawsuit taking on the state’s school funding model. This one, unlike another awaiting trial in Rockingham County, focuses on taxpayers.”