New Hampshire’s education freedom account program was built on incrementalism. The program, which allows families sending children to private schools or home schooling to use state funds, launched in 2021 with a cap on household income equivalent to $79,500 for a family of four. As the program became popular, lawmakers increased that cap, raising it […]

Last June, New Hampshire school choice advocates notched a long-sought victory: Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed a bill to remove income limits on education freedom accounts. The EFA program itself was a touchstone school choice accomplishment when it launched in 2021. For five years, New Hampshire families have had the ability to leave or never attend […]

New Hampshire Republicans pushing to allow children to attend any school district in the state got closer to the finish line than ever Thursday. But a handful of Republicans joined Democrats to thwart the effort, and the idea, once again, has hit a wall. After exhaustive conversation, the House failed to pass Senate Bill 101, […]

After the COVID-19 pandemic upended public education, New Hampshire’s Department of Education sought a new avenue for state investment: “learning pods.”  Presented by then-Commissioner Frank Edelblut, the idea was to allow parents to send children to smaller classroom environments outside the public school system, run by “tutors,” to allow more one-to-one attention and combat learning […]

House Republicans killed a Democratic bill intended to strengthen the reporting of test scores for students in the education freedom account program Thursday, arguing it would place an unfair burden on those students.  House Bill 1716 would have required parents applying for an education freedom account to allow their child’s standardized test results to be […]

As legislation to create an “open enrollment” system for public schools awaits a final vote in the House, the state’s school superintendents association is speaking against the idea. In a statement Monday, the New Hampshire School Administrators Association said the bill, House Bill 751, would “risk overriding local decision-making.” The Republican bill, which passed the […]

New Hampshire Senate Republicans fast-tracked a bill to create universal open enrollment in New Hampshire public schools Thursday, using a parliamentary maneuver to send the bill to the House without needing a hearing in either chamber. If signed into law, the legislation would allow New Hampshire residents to enroll students in any school district in […]