02/08/2026
Long Post Warning
As chair of the Northwood School Board I feel a responsibility to share information regarding the tax liability to Northwood residents connected to current state legislation. And while there certainly are benefits to open enrollment, the potential from the non-germain language added to senate bill 101 and house bill 751 to increase our local property tax eclipses any benefits. In April, the school board voted 3-1-1 to oppose similar legislation (then in HB 741 FN) due to the tax liability.
SB 101 and HB 751 are scheduled to be voted on next Thursday, the 12th. If passed, open enrollment legislation will move to the governor for signature. If adopted, school districts will be billed for tuition for any student choosing to enroll outside of their district. In Northwood, that means that any regular education student who enrolls in another district will raise our tax impact by about $20,000 (+/-, different formulas have been proposed in different versions of these bills.) The legislation also applies for students living in Northwood but who are not currently enrolled. The formula for students receiving special education services is even higher. If, for example, 5 regular education students participate, our total tax impact will increase by about $100,000. The proposed legislation is to take effect this fiscal cycle, and there are no capital reserve funds which could be used to mitigate this tax impact.
To be fair, the Northwood School District could potentially benefit financially from this legislation, at the expense of more crowded classrooms (Northwood Elementary’s average class size is already higher than the state average.) However, the potential for this legislation to raise local property taxes is concerning. The actual financial impact is unknown and unknowable, but the financial liability is significant, which is why I feel a responsibility to share this information with the community.
As stated, the Northwood School Board opposes this legislation. If you would also like to oppose this legislation, please consider contacting Governor Ayotte: (603)271-2121, [email protected]. To date, the governor has not stated support for nor opposition to open enrollment legislation. I believe that she is more likely to be influenced by everyday residents than school board members or school officials. Our local representatives are scheduled to vote on this legislation next Thursday, they are James Guzofski [email protected], Scott Bryer [email protected], and Paul Tudor [email protected].
Thank you,
Brian Winslow
