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HB 1799 Would have required the state to actually fund adequate education as courts have ordered.

Education Dead

Would have required the state to actually fund adequate education as courts have ordered.

Impact Score — How Does This Bill Affect You?

8

Overall Impact Score

Beneficial

Scale: 1 (harmful) to 10 (beneficial)

7
💰

Your Wallet

Increased state education funding would reduce reliance on local property taxes

9
🏘️

Your Community

Directly addresses court-identified funding gaps in property-poor communities

7
⚖️

Your Freedom

Implements the constitutional obligation courts have repeatedly affirmed

Status

Killed in House 185-159 on Feb 19, 2026.

Voted Yes

0 R + 159 D

Voted No

185 R

R Yes D Yes R No D No

Sponsor

Rep. Dick Ames (D)

The Short Version

The bill that actually tried to solve the problem — and was killed for it. Rep. Dick Ames introduced legislation requiring the state to fund an adequate education at the levels courts have said are constitutionally required. The Education Funding Committee voted it down 10-8 on party lines. The House killed it 185-159. Courts say the state owes more. The legislature says no. That's the whole story.

Who's Behind This Bill?

Who Benefits

  • ▲ Students in underfunded districts
  • ▲ Property-poor communities (reduced property tax burden)
  • ▲ All NH families (constitutional obligation fulfilled)

Who Pays the Price

  • ▼ State budget (increased education spending to court-ordered levels)

Connected Organizations

NH courts (Claremont decisions, ConVal ruling) Bipartisan education advocates

Roll Call Detail (1 vote)

Every recorded floor vote on this bill, with each legislator's individual vote. Click a name to see that rep's full record.

Who actually supports this bill?

Across the 1 recorded vote on this bill — counting each legislator's net direction and treating kill motions as opposing the bill — Republicans opposed it ( 2 for , 185 against ) , and Democrats supported it ( 157 for ) .

"Supporting" means voting for passage OR voting against a kill motion. "Opposing" is the inverse. Concurs and amendment-only votes don't count.

Inexpedient to Legislate (kill motion) 2026-02-19
Passed

YES = Kill the bill. NO = Keep the bill alive.

185R
Voted to Kill the Bill (185)
2R + 157D
Voted to Keep It Alive (159)
31
Absent
18
Not voting
Show all 393 individual votes

Voted Yea (185)

Republicans (185)

Voted Nay (159)

Republicans (2)
Democrats (157)
Absent (31)

Alicia Gregg (D) , Andrew Prout (R) , Anita Burroughs (D) , Barbara Comtois (R) , Beth Richards (D) , Brian Cole (R) , Catherine Sofikitis (D) , Cathryn Harvey (D) , Charles McMahon (R) , Claudine Burnham (R) , Daniel Popovici-Muller (R) , Eleana Colby (D) , Ellen Read (D) , Gaby Grossman (D) , Jack Flanagan (R) , James Tierney (R) , Jay Markell (R) , John Leavitt (R) , John Suiter (R) , Karen Hegner (D) , Kimberly Rice (R) , Laurel Stavis (D) , Michael Murphy (R) , Mike Belcher (R) , Pamela Brown (R) , Richard Brown (R) , Samantha Jacobs (D) , Terry Roy (R) , Tim Mannion (R) , Timothy Soucy (D) , Wayne Pearson (D)

Full Analysis

HB 1799 is the road not taken. Sponsored by Rep. Dick Ames and a coalition of Democratic legislators (including several senators as co-sponsors), this bill would have required the state to actually fund public education at the levels courts have repeatedly said are constitutionally required.

The Claremont decisions (1993, 1997) and the ConVal ruling (2023) all found the same thing: New Hampshire's per-pupil education funding is inadequate, and the state constitution places the primary obligation for funding on the state, not local property taxes. HB 1799 would have brought state funding in line with those rulings.

The Education Funding Committee voted it down 10-8 on party lines — every Republican voted against, every Democrat voted for. The full House killed it 185-159. The minority committee report recommended passage, noting that the bill simply required the state to do what courts have already ordered.

This is the context that makes every other bill in this session so infuriating. The legislature won't fund schools adequately (HB 1799 — killed). It won't fund school buildings (HB 366 — killed). But it will redefine adequacy to mean less (HB 1121), cap what towns can spend (HB 1300), and expand vouchers for wealthy families (SB 295). The strategy is coherent: don't fix public schools — defund them, and then point to their struggles as evidence they don't work.

Read the Actual Bill → See All Bills

Bill statuses as of May 2026. Check LegiScan or NH General Court for the latest.