CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – Gov. John Lynch won perhaps the most important test of his sophomore term Thursday when the state Senate approved a constitutional amendment that would let lawmakers limit most school aid to needier communities.

Lynch needed 15 of 24 senators – or three-fifths – to pass the proposal to the House, where it faces an uncertain future. He got yes votes from 14 Democrats and one Republican.

If the House and voters agree to the change, the state could limit most school aid to the neediest communities.

“With this amendment, we will finally be able to effectively target education aid – lifting up the communities that need help the most and finally ensuring that all children in all our communities have the opportunity they deserve,” said Nashua Democrat Joseph Foster.

, the amendment’s prime sponsor.

The amendment would require the state to provide at least half of whatever the Legislature determines to be the cost of an adequate education. The state Supreme Court still would have authority to judge whether lawmakers were fulfilling that responsibility, but lawmakers could distribute aid however they saw fit.

Though Lynch got all 14 Democrats to vote for the amendment, two of them – Jacalyn Cilley of Barrington and Iris Estabrook of Durham – said they did so to allow the House to weigh in on the proposal.

“I have given my vote in support of the amendment out of loyalty and courtesy to (my colleagues) and to the process,” Estabrook said in a statement released afterward.

Estabrook said the amendment isn’t needed.

Hudson Republican Bob Clegg agreed, saying that he did not believe it “does anything we’re not presently doing.”

Senate Republican Leader Ted Gatsas said requiring 50 percent of adequacy be distributed in aid doesn’t tell lawmakers or voters much.

“Fifty percent of what?” said Gatsas of Manchester.

If the amendment fails, lawmakers must abide by court rulings and pay 100 percent of adequacy, Gatsas and Foster agreed.

Manchester Democrat Lou D’Allesandro said it was time to vote on principle, not aid amounts.

“Education has taken a second seat to the spreadsheet,” he lamented. “It’s the spreadsheet that drives the issue not education … It’s our responsibility to vote on what we believe.”

Lynch applauded the Senate for backing his amendment.

“This amendment ensures a significant, ongoing commitment to education and will allow us to direct more education aid to communities that need it the most,” he said.

Lawmakers have been struggling with school funding since a landmark state Supreme Court ruling in 1997 found the state’s reliance on widely varying local property taxes unconstitutional. A recent study by the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies found that per-pupil spending has risen overall since then, but poor towns have not gained ground on towns with greater property tax wealth.

Lynch and other legislative leaders believe making the state pay the full cost of an adequate education in every community would create an intolerable financial burden, without necessarily making schools better.

Lynch now needs 60 percent support in the House, which has repeatedly rejected past amendments. If he succeeds, he faces the even more daunting challenge of winning over two-thirds of voters in November 2008.

Two years ago, Lynch proposed a school aid plan that phased out aid to wealthier towns. He said the current proposal would guarantee some state aid to all communities, but it might not be general education aid. He said he worded the amendment broadly to give the Legislature flexibility.

That raises the question of whether lawmakers could count school construction aid or some other aid towns now get as satisfying the requirement, so they could reserve general school aid for needier towns.

The Legislature is working to meet a July 1 Supreme Court deadline to define an adequate education. Lawmakers plan to determine its cost and how to distribute aid later.

Supporters argued Lynch’s amendment differs from ones lawmakers have rejected in the past because it would affirm the state’s responsibility for education and maintain the court’s role as overseer.

Some critics want the court’s role restricted. Opponents also criticized Lynch for proposing the amendment before coming out with a school aid plan – and cost – so lawmakers would know what they were voting on.

The state Board of Education and the Business and Industry Association are among the groups that have endorsed the amendment.

On Wednesday, the House approved Lynch’s proposal for an interim school aid plan, which would temporarily suspend the current aid law while the Legislature debates alternatives. It would give every community at least what they got this year plus a 5 percent increase.

Those communities expecting bigger increases would get roughly 95 percent of what the law calls for. The difference will pay for the 5 percent guarantee to towns that otherwise would get less aid under the existing formula.

The plan distributes $890 million in aid a year; 41 percent of that is from a statewide property tax.

AP-ES-04-12-07 1831EDT