The Superior Court acknowledged that the petitioner districts may not "benefit from local control to the same extent as the comparison districts," but they are able to exert some local control. To paraphrase George Orwell from his great work of political satire, "Animal Farm," all school districts are equal, but some are more equal than others.

The Superior Court concluded that because there was no showing that the substantive right has been denied, the public interest in local control must outweigh the restrictions on the school children's private rights.

The New Hampshire Supreme Court in its 12/17/97 Claremont II decision held that:

"In determining whether, in New Hampshire, a State funded constitutionally adequate elementary and secondary education is a fundamental right, we are guided by two salient factors: one of constitutional interpretation and the other of practicality and common sense. First and foremost is the fact that our State constitution specifically charges the legislature with the duty to provide public education. This fact alone is sufficient in our view to accord fundamental right status to the beneficiaries of the duty....... Second, and of persuasive force, is the simple fact that even a minimalist view of educational adequacy recognizes the role of education in preparing citizens to participate in the exercise of voting and first amendment rights. The latter being recognized as fundamental, it is illogical to pace the means to exercise those rights on less substantial constitutional footing than the rights themselves. We hold that in this state a constitutionally adequate public education is a fundamental right. We emphasize that the fundamental right at issue is the right to a state funded constitutionally adequate education. It is not the right to horizontal resource replication from school to school and district to district. But when an individual school or district offers something less than educational adequacy , the governmental action or lack of action that is the root cause of the disparity will be examined by a standard of strict judicial scrutiny." (emphasis added)

In Count VI, the petitioner school districts alleged that the system of school finance which relies almost exclusively on local property tax violates Part II, Article 5 of the NH Constitution which requires that all taxes levied in this state be, "proportional and reasonable."