Feb. 26—A Rockingham County Superior Court judge has upheld a previous ruling finding the state’s current levels of funding for public schools falls short, directing officials to adequately fund education for all New Hampshire public schools students.

Last week, Superior Court Judge David Ruoff rejected the state’s request for reconsideration of his November ruling that the state’s current education funding formula is unconstitutional and that “base adequacy” requires that the state pay districts at least $7,356 per pupil.

In his ruling, Ruoff wrote the state failed to supply new evidence to warrant reconsideration of his ruling, adding that he saw no reason to delay fully funded payments.

“In reaching this conclusion, the court observes that although the issues implicated here may seem like a simple matter of dollars and cents to some, the reality is that with each passing school year, another class of public school children is permanently deprived of a constitutionally adequate education,” Ruoff wrote.

ConVal Regional School District filed suit against the state and Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut in 2019, arguing the state neglected its constitutional obligation.

ConVal was joined in the lawsuit by 17 co-plaintiff districts: Claremont, Derry Co-Operative, Fall Mountain, Grantham, Hillsboro-Deering, Hopkinton, Lebanon, Manchester, Mascenic, Mascoma Valley, Monadnock, Nashua, Newport, Oyster River, Winchester, and Windham.

All together, ConVal and the co-plaintiffs educate almost one-quarter of all public school students in the state.

ConVal Regional School District Superintendent Kimberly Rizzo Saunders celebrated Ruoff’s most recent ruling.

“Judge Ruoff called the state’s inadequate funding levels ‘egregious’ and ‘woefully inadequate,’ and we could not agree more,” Saunders said. “The state was unable to provide any new evidence that would have warranted another hearing or a delay.

“The state and legislature need to stop creating roadblocks and meet their obligations to New Hampshire’s children and their education.”

New Hampshire is constitutionally required to fund the actual cost of an adequate education as ordered by the state Supreme Court’s Claremont rulings in 1993 and 1997. The state’s current formula excludes operational costs such as transportation, school nursing and food services, along with all but a fraction of facilities operations and maintenance costs.

In 2022, the average per-pupil cost of education K-12 in New Hampshire was $19,399. The state funded “base adequacy” at $3,786.

For the 2024-2025 school year, base adequacy was set at $4,100.

Ruoff ruled that, based on evidence presented by the co-plaintiff districts, base adequacy must be at least $7,356 per pupil.

The hike could require an additional $538 million from the state, according to some estimates.

In December, attorneys for the state filed a request for more time to come up with a solution to the public education funding issue.

The Attorney General’s Office, representing Gov. Chris Sununu and Edelblut, filed motions in Rockingham Superior Court asking Judge Ruoff to put on hold and reconsider his November merit order.

The state’s attorney argued that the court ruling violates the separation of powers between branches of government, and said the solution, including an exact number, rests with state lawmakers.

“The court’s injunction materially impairs that essential lawmaking function by mandating that the General Court solve a complex policy issue in a particularized way. … The General Court has broad discretion in determining how to deliver and fund an adequate public education and how to fix constitutional defects within the existing funding regime,” the motion stated.

The state is likely to appeal Ruoff’s ruling.