New Hampshire
State Supreme Court issues a stay over sweeping ConVal school funding decision • New Hampshire Bulletin
The New Hampshire Supreme Court granted a stay over a school funding lawsuit decision Wednesday, hitting pause on a sweeping order that would force the state to double its spending on public schools.
Without comment, all five justices concurred with the stay over the lawsuit, Contoocook Valley School District v State of New Hampshire. The move allows the state time to appeal a November Rockingham County Superior Court decision up to the Supreme Court.
The November decision, issued by Judge David Ruoff, found that the state was not meeting its constitutional obligation to provide an “adequate education” because the minimum, per pupil amount provided to school districts – about $4,100 per year – is too low. Instead, Ruoff said, the state should spend at least $7,356.01 to account for realistic public school expenses.
Under New Hampshire’s school funding system, any school costs not covered by the state must be raised by local property taxes.
Last month, Ruoff denied the state’s motion to reconsider or delay his decision and ordered that the state move ahead immediately. But the Supreme Court’s stay overrides that order. The state has said it will appeal the matter to the Supreme Court, promising what could be a years-long, high-profile court fight.
In its motion to the Supreme Court to stay the ruling, the Department of Justice argued the state would “suffer irreparable harm” if Ruoff’s order were not paused, since the order would require a $537.6 million annual spending increase to the state’s Education Trust, which currently spends just over $1 billion per year.
Republican politicians have criticized Ruoff personally: Senate President Jeb Bradley, of Wolfeboro, accused Ruoff of judicial overreach during a press conference in January.
And Gov. Chris Sununu has suggested Ruoff should no longer serve as a judge.
“That judge is a politically activist judge that I think has no place on the bench,” Sununu said at a recent Chamber of Commerce event, in remarks reported by New Hampshire Public Radio.
“I even voted for the guy when I was on the (Executive) Council,” Sununu continued. “I couldn’t be more disappointed. Because it was all politics.
“… A judge shouldn’t be telling the state a dollar amount. That’s not a judge’s job.”
But advocates in favor of changing the state’s school funding balance say that Ruoff’s ruling acknowledged a reality – that the state does not pay enough for districts to run their schools – and sought to correct that reality by forcing the Legislature’s hand.
“The track record of the Legislature, as exemplified by decades of inaction, is not one of proactive, meaningful reform to school funding to fulfill the constitutional right of New Hampshire students to an adequate education,” said Zack Sheehan, executive director of the advocacy group New Hampshire School Funding Fairness Project, in December.
The ConVal case is one of two active school funding lawsuits. The second case, Rand v. State of New Hampshire, was brought by taxpayers, who argue the state’s property-tax-driven school funding system is not equitable and disproportionately hurts taxpayers in poorer towns.
In the Rand case, Ruoff issued a partial summary judgment ruling in November that found that the statewide education property tax (SWEPT) is not constitutional and should be changed to redistribute revenue from wealthier towns to poorer towns. The Supreme Court did not issue a stay over that order Wednesday.
The Rand case was filed after the ConVal case. Plaintiffs in the Rand case have not yet received a full superior court trial; attorneys for the plaintiffs say they are waiting to see if the Supreme Court will attempt to take up the two cases together or split them and let the Rand case work its way through a trial in Rockingham County Superior Court.
The New Hampshire Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at Saturday, July 4, 2026 results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from July 4 drawing
17-38-46-50-69, Powerball: 20, Power Play: 2
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 3 numbers from July 4 drawing
Day: 6-5-3
Evening: 8-0-6
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 4 numbers from July 4 drawing
Day: 9-8-1-3
Evening: 2-9-4-1
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Megabucks Plus numbers from July 4 drawing
06-10-19-22-33, Megaball: 04
Check Megabucks Plus payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from July 4 drawing
17-20-37-40-43, Bonus: 04
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the New Hampshire Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 10:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Pick 3, 4: 1:10 p.m. and 6:55 p.m. daily.
- Mega Millions: 11:00 p.m. Tuesday and Friday.
- Megabucks Plus: 7:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Lucky for Life: 10:38 p.m. daily.
- Gimme 5: 6:55 p.m. Monday through Friday.
- Millionaire for Life: 11:15 p.m. daily.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a New Hampshire managing editor. You can send feedback using this form.
250 years in, and America is still a work in progress. Many American poets have written hymns and howls, declarations and outcries for this country that brims with so many people, and so many hopes, from all over the world.
“I Hear America Singing,” Walt Whitman wrote, in the 1850s.
“…the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
…The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else…”
Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus” was inscribed on the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal in 1903. It’s a poem in praise of immigrants who were cast out from other lands and found safe harbor in America.
“Give me your tired, your poor,” wrote Emma Lazarus.
“… your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
But Langston Hughes’ 1949 poem, “Freedom,” reminds us that many Black American families did not sail to America under the flame of a welcoming lamp, but were captive, shackled, to be sold into bondage. After the Emancipation Proclamation, many still endured segregation, bigotry and the constant threat of racist violence.
“I tire so of hearing people say, let things take their course,” wrote Langston Hughes.
“Tomorrow is another day.
I do not need my freedom when I’m dead.
I cannot live on tomorrow’s bread.”
This week, as the U.S. Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship, you might read Shirley Geok-lin Lim’s 2017 poem, “Learning to Love America,” about how immigrants make America their own as they start families here.
“…because to have a son is to have a country,” she writes.
“…because my son will bury me here
because countries are in our blood and we bleed them”
The America great poets see is imperfect, unsettled, and unfinished, even after 250 years. Lawrence Ferlinghetti wrote in 1958 these words that still ring out:
“…I am waiting
for a rebirth of wonder
and I am waiting for someone
to really discover America”
Copyright 2026 NPR
A Times Square Ball Drop, a rolling series of ball drops, timed to occur at midnight on July 3 in every U.S. time zone from Guam to American Samoa, is part of the “Giving 4th Broadcast Benefit Show,” creating a nearly 24-hour celebration of the 250th anniversary. It’s part of the broader “Giving 4th” initiative that aims to make and establish Independence Day the biggest annual day of giving.
A time capsule will be buried in Philadelphia to be opened in 2276 on July 4. It contains a carefully curated collection of letters and artifacts reflecting the leadership, institutions, and communities that shape the country today. It will include contributions from all three branches of the U.S. federal government and submissions from each of the 50 states, Washington D.C., and five territories.
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