An amendment capping charter school enrollment across New Hampshire could force hundreds of Granite State students out of their current schools. The Senate budget would cap enrollment at 850 students, hundreds fewer than are currently enrolled. If the cap stays in the state budget, New hampshire’s eleven charter schools would not be able to accept new students next year and might have to hold a “reverse lottery” to kick current students out of the classroom. Two charter school administrators worry that the cap might force them out of business entirely.

In Looking for examples of fiscal responsibility and stability, the United States would do well to emulate its neighbor to the north.

Grant Bosse examines the history of the state’s revenue sharing programs and the impact to towns in the state of ending the programs that would have provided $160 million over the next biennium. The impacts vary by town across the state but are most severe in property poor towns like Berlin and Claremont

There is also a complete TOWN BY TOWN LIST here

This is the 400 line spreadsheet explaining the stimulus compromise put out by Sen. Nelson (D-Neb). The Washington Post chart graphically illustrating the details can be accessed here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2009/02/01/GR2009020100154.html

The department of transportation’s list of potential projects to be paid for with the potential federal bailout is compared to the the state’s ten year transportation plan and the “redlist” of bridges to be repaired. Author also suggests two alternatives that would align with already established state priorities.

The PowerPoint slides from a presenation on the $90 million shortfall carried forward and the $500-800 million budget problem the state faces in the coming biennium.

By Grant Bosse January 2009 What’s RGGI? The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is an agreement among ten Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states to limit carbon dioxide emissions through a mandatory cap-and-trade scheme applying to fossil-fueled power plants.  It is administered through a non-profit corporation, RGGI Inc., which contracts with private companies to administer and monitor quarterly […]

  [powerpoint http://www.jbartlett.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/NHBudgetBasics.ppt] Click here to download a copy to your desktop

In each of the last four months, state revenues have fallen further and further behind the amount needed for the state budget. Revenues will end the year at least $91 million behind the budget – and even higher if business taxes also deteriorate. The two year budget shortfall will be between $205 and $258 million.

New Hampshire State revenues are currently on a track to produce a shortfall of more than $75 million in the fiscal year ending June 2008. That shortfall could be reduced by a strong economic performance over the next months but will likely grow larger as corporate profits growth slows after the explosive growth of recent years.