Every New Hampshire voter will see a local school tax-cap question in the November general election, asking whether school property-tax growth and central-office spending should be limited for two years. A current voter guide says the measure will appear statewide after courts cleared officials to finish preparing ballots.
The question is local even though it appears during a statewide election. Under the new state law, each town or city ward votes on limits affecting the school district or districts serving that community. Adoption requires three-fifths support—60% of votes cast—and the same supermajority can later approve an override.
A successful vote would limit growth in the locally raised school property-tax levy to the prior year’s amount, adjusted for inflation and net new taxable construction. Bonded capital costs are excluded. The measure separately caps a school administrative unit’s central-office budget at 6% of the combined appropriations of its member districts, again excluding bonded projects.
The law defines central-office administration broadly. It includes superintendent and business-office services, human resources, payroll, purchasing, district-level information technology, legal services and some curriculum directors who do not spend most of their time teaching. It does not include classroom instruction, school-based administration, special education, transportation, food service, or building operations.
The Secretary of State has published the ballot materials, legislative history and hearing records for House Bill 1300. The question tells voters the limits apply for two years and says they do not affect classroom instruction or school-based services. Critics argued that statement could mislead voters because a cap on total locally raised school taxes could eventually force boards to consider cuts beyond central-office accounts.
That dispute reached court before ballots were printed. The New Hampshire Supreme Court ultimately declined emergency relief that would have stopped distribution, leaving the question in place, according to the court report. The decision resolved the immediate ballot deadline; it did not settle the political debate over how the cap could affect individual districts.
If approved this November, the limits begin with fiscal-year 2028 school and administrative-unit budgets. Voters will see the question again in 2028, and the statutory section is scheduled for repeal in 2032. The Department of Revenue Administration would certify inflation, taxable-property growth and bonded costs before approving local tax rates.
Multi-town districts add another layer. The local property-tax cap applies according to the vote in each participating municipality, while the administrative-unit cap depends on combined support across the communities served by that unit. Town officials and school boards may hold hearings before the election, but no separate warrant article or petition was required to put the question on the ballot.
A “no” vote leaves the existing school-budget process in place. A “yes” vote creates a binding ceiling, subject to the override rules. The immediate choice is therefore not a vote on a specific school budget; it is a vote on the formula that will constrain locally raised school taxes and central-office spending beginning in 2028.
