Is this an example of a State Monopoly (education) pushing Private Companies out of Business? I do believe that this is the type of subject that should be discussed and decided by the town, since they hold the power of the purse.

However things aren’t all rosy in Hudson with the lawsuit. Hudson resident Donna Ohanian, who co-founded the New Hampshire Public Kindergarten Coalition says it's time the town institutes public kindergarten because children entering first grade aren't always adequately prepared for school. She says she would rather the town put the money it is spending on the lawsuit toward funding kindergarten. What I have learned about this subject is that Hudson isn’t against Kindergarten but it will fight violations of Article 28-a in the NH Constitution. I think Ms. Obanian should understand that and present her case to the town residents at the town meeting.

Of course the State doesn’t think it is violating the constitution since it is going to pay 75% of the cost for temporary classrooms (trailers, good idea in the winter) and $1,200 per student. Anyone that has looked closely at the cost of education realizes the state says it costs $3,950 per student for an adequate education but the school districts are paying over $12k per student. Does $1,200 really meet the constitutional requirements? 

This also doesn’t take into account that our state has a serious budget deficit (the worst in the nation) and doesn’t have the money to keep it’s promises. The normal mantra is “Tax & Spend” but we do things differently here. Its more like “Spend and Shift Costs, then Tax”. When more and more control slips from the cities/towns to the state the power of the purse is lost. 

There are other examples of the state violating Article 28-a, and it seems that the only recourse cities/towns have is to go to court. The problem is that they don’t stop. It seems like every legislative session includes at least one or two bills that pass costs onto the property taxes. They try to limit the options to pay for all of their “wish-list” items and are pushing us towards a sales and/or income tax, which will not decrease our property taxes. How many new taxes and money raising schemes will our Governor and Legislature invent?