HB 1300

HB 1300 is a slow-motion budget guillotine disguised as fiscal responsibility. Sponsored by Rep. Ross Berry (R-Weare), it requires every school district in the state to hold a tax cap vote every two years. The cap formula ties budget growth to the average CPI inflation rate over the past 5 years or changes in student enrollment.

Here's why this is devastating: school costs don't track general inflation. Special education costs have risen 8-12% annually in many districts. Health insurance premiums routinely increase 6-10% per year. Heating oil, transportation fuel, and building maintenance costs are volatile and often spike. When your budget is capped at 3% growth but your costs are rising 6-8%, the math only works one way — cuts.

The bill also restricts central office administrative spending, which sounds good until you realize that "administration" includes things like the people who manage special education compliance, school safety coordinators, and curriculum directors. These aren't bureaucratic luxuries — they're federally mandated functions.

The cruelest part is the ratchet effect: once a budget is cut, the cap applies to the new, lower baseline. Each cut makes the next year harder. Within a few years, districts would face impossible choices between laying off teachers, cutting programs, or violating special education law. That's not an accident — it's the design.