On December 17,1997, the future of New Hampshire's school children grew considerably brighter when the New Hampshire Supreme Court issued its decision in Claremont School District & a. v. Governor & a. (Claremont II )

The New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled that:

"in this state a constitutionally adequate public education is a fundamental right."

The Court declared unconstitutional the New Hampshire system of public education. A system in which many of the state's school districts are unable to provide their children with a constitutionally adequate education despite their tremendous property tax efforts.

The New Hampshire Supreme Court stated;

"We hold that the present system of financing elementary and secondary education in New Hampshire is unconstitutional. To hold otherwise would be to effectively conclude that it is reasonable, in discharging a state obligation, to tax property owners in one town or city as much as four times the amount taxed to others similarly situated in other towns and cities.

This is precisely the kind of taxation and fiscal mischief from which the framers of our state constitution took strong steps to protect our citizens."

The Court's decision presents a great opportunity for the state's governor, the legislature and its citizens. It is an opportunity to replace the current system that fails New Hampshire's school children with a statewide educational system that fulfills the state's obligation to provide every educable child in New Hampshire with a constitutionally adequate, state funded, public education.

This historic opportunity for New Hampshire's children came about because in June 1991, after years of empty rhetoric and broken promises from the state, parents, property taxpayers and citizens concerned about public education from the school districts of Claremont, Pittsfield, Allenstown, Lisbon and Franklin filed what has become known as the Claremont Education lawsuit.

The suit was filed because, despite their determined local tax efforts, they could not raise enough money to fund an adequate education for their children. The school districts maintain in their suit that the New Hampshire Constitution imposes a duty on the state to support public education and that the state's system of funding public education fails in that duty in violation of the New Hampshire Constitution.

The state sought to have the suit dismissed by the Superior Court. The question of the state's duty to support education pursuant to the New Hampshire Constitution made its way to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.

On December 30th, 1993, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled in the school districts' favor declaring that;

"We hold that part II, article 83 imposes a duty on the State to provide a constitutionally adequate education to every educable child in the public schools in New Hampshire and to guarantee adequate funding."