(The Center Square) — New Hampshire’s school voucher program, which diverts taxpayer dollars to pay for private, religious and homeschooling, has seen a major uptick in enrollment over the past year, according to newly released data.
The state Department of Education said the number of students receiving funding from the state’s Education Freedom Account program increased from 4,663 during the 2023-2024 academic year to 5,321 at the start of the 2024-2025 academic year. That’s an increase of about 14% or 658 students.
Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut said the data shows that the three-year-old program is succeeding in “offering lower-income families assistance to choose whichever school or learning environment best meets the needs of their child.”
“It is clear that there is a growing demand for more schooling options in the Granite State,” Edelblut said. “New Hampshire continues to deliver high quality educational pathways to families and the Education Freedom Account program for a fraction of the cost to taxpayers of a traditional education.”
Edelblut said the cost to taxpayers would be more than $99 million if the 5,321 eligible EFA students attended a traditional public school. He said the program consumes less than 1% of the total statewide and local education spending.
New Hampshire, which approved its EFA program in 2021, is expected to spend nearly $28 million to help fund private and religious school educations in the upcoming school year, with an average grant of $5,300 per student, according to the Children’s Scholarship Fund, which oversees the program.
In June, the state House of Representatives rejected a plan to expand the eligibility requirements for the state’s Education Freedom Accounts from the current 350% of the federal poverty level to 425%, or $133,000 a year for a family of four. The current income limit is a family of four with an annual income limit of $109,200
Nationwide, 32 states provided an estimated $6.2 billion in subsidies to nearly 1 million students through vouchers, education savings accounts, tax credits, charter schools and other forms of school choice, according to a recent EdChoice report. That’s more than double the amount spent in the 2019-20 school year, the data shows.
Democrats and other critics argue that New Hampshire’s EFA program lacks transparency on private and religious schools receiving scholarship funds. They point out that those schools aren’t required to provide standardized testing for students or meet state-level academic standards.
Despite those concerns, recent polls by supporters suggest that the demand for expanded school choice is increasing among voters in the wake of the pandemic.
A 2023 poll conducted by RealClear Opinion Research for the American Federation for Children showed 71% of registered voters back school choice, which the pollsters defined as giving “parents the right to use the tax dollars designated for their child’s education to send their child to the public or private school.”
“New Hampshire parents believe they should have the power to spend the taxes they pay for education on learning experiences and schools where they know their child will thrive,” Kate Baker Demers, the fund’s executive director, said in a statement. “Education Freedom Accounts make that happen.”
