The following is the opinion of the author and should not be construed as the policy of the Sullivan County GOP or any elected representatives.

Parents owe their children an education before anyone owes Concord another revenue stream. The obligation runs from family to child, with the community as a secondary obligee because it lives with the downstream effects: neighbors who can read a budget, track a town warrant, evaluate evidence, and serve when called, voting, jury duty, and, in the broad constitutional sense, the unorganized militia. If we order duties that way, parents first, community second, state as backstop, the funding question looks different. The right mechanism keeps authority near consequences, makes costs visible to the people who approve them, and resists the political reflex to send the bill to “someone else.” In New Hampshire, that mechanism is the property tax, not a sales tax and not an income tax.