Families supporting bills to expand Education Freedom Accounts rallied outside the State House prior to a House debate Thursday. The House narrowly approved one bill to make higher-income families eligible for these taxpayer subsidies while killing the other two.
Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut, right, spoke to activists outside the State House in opposition to bills to expand the Education Freedom Account program. Edelblut played a major role in convincing the Legislature to create in 2021 this open for parents to receive taxpayer-backed scholarships to home school or send their children to private, religious or alternative public schools.
Families supporting bills to expand Education Freedom Accounts rallied outside the State House prior to a House debate Thursday. The House narrowly approved one bill to make higher-income families eligible for these taxpayer subsidies while killing the other two.
CONCORD — By the narrowest of margins, House Republicans pushed through a major expansion of the three-year-old Education Freedom Accounts program (HB 1665) that would make taxpayer subsidy scholarships available to families of four making up to $150,000 a year.
The 190-189 vote came after the House had rejected two other proposals, one to completely lift the income cap on the program (HB 1634) and the other to make nine new categories of families eligible for EFAs regardless of income (HB 1561).
In a surprise maneuver, House GOP leaders seized on the narrow win and pushed the bill onto the state Senate after House Finance Committee Chairman Ken Weyler, R-Kingston, said it did not have to go to his committee for a second public hearing.
House Majority Leader Jason Osborne, R-Auburn, said the GOP will make access to EFAs for all families a rallying cry in the 2024 elections.
“The fact remains that we now have the most popular education choice program in the country. By failing to provide this flexibility to all children, we are playing petty games with their futures, putting politics over people,” Osborne said in a statement.
Rep. Laura Telerski, D-Nashua who chairs the House Democratic PAC, said the move to ram the bill through was the height of partisan arrogance.
“No clear price tag, unlimited spending, and fiscally irresponsible. Republicans (are) just burning money.” Telerski posted on social media.
Megan Tuttle, president of the National Education Association of New Hampshire, said this proposed expansion cost as much as $45 million a year.
“It continues to be immensely disappointing that a majority of state lawmakers are hyper fixated on expanding this unsustainable program at all costs while ignoring the state’s chronic underfunding of our public schools, which the vast majority of Granite State students and families attend, trust, and rely on,” Tuttle said.
Last spring, Gov. Chris Sununu signed a law that raised the income limits of EFAs to 350% of the federal poverty level or $109,200 for a family of four.
House Education Committee Chairman Rick Ladd, R-Haverhill, said a robust EFA program makes public schools compete harder for students and it also offers parents schooling that’s cheaper than the per-pupil cost in their local school district.
Only four House Republicans opposed the bill while the approval vote of one Democrat, Rep. Bruce Tatro of Swanzey, became its margin of victory.
Tatro later told colleagues that he made a mistake in casting that last EFA vote of the day; Tatro opposed EFAs four times earlier Thursday.
Since its 2001 start, EFAs have exploded from an initial estimate of about $300,000 annually to more than $22 million in the 2023-24 school year.
There are 4,200 students in the program receiving an average grant of $5,225 given to parents to offset costs to homeschool or to send their child to a private, religious or alternative public school.
Foes: Let’s wait for state audit findings
Rep. Mel Myler, D-Hopkinton, said these schools don’t have to meet state standards, can discriminate about who can attend and the program should not be expanded further at least until the state completes an ongoing audit into the program’s effectiveness.
“Instead of having an honest review of what this bill would mean to taxpayers, Republicans have decided to stick their heads in the sand and hope that the public is too busy to pay attention,” Myler said.
Critics noted Arizona lifted the income cap on its school voucher program in 2022. This move, along with a big tax cut, has that state facing a current budget deficit of $400 million.
“I think all families should have access to them because they should have a choice. We don’t have an income limit for families in public school, right?” Nashua’s Vilenky Rios, who homeschools three children with the help of EFA scholarships, asked rhetorically. “The money is there for the child; it should follow the child.”
Last September, Stacey Hammerlind opened Micah Studios, a learning center in Newport entirely supported by EFAs that serves 11 children of low-income parents who can’t homeschool their children.
“This has gone so well that we’re looking for a second site now to expand this into middle and high school students,” Hammerlind said.
Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut, right, spoke to activists outside the State House in opposition to bills to expand the Education Freedom Account program. Edelblut played a major role in convincing the Legislature to create in 2021 this open for parents to receive taxpayer-backed scholarships to home school or send their children to private, religious or alternative public schools.
Derek Tremblay is headmaster of Mount Royal Academy in Newport where 70 families make use of EFAs among the 190 enrolled in the private Catholic school that is celebrating its 30th year.
“EFAs have been transformational for families. We’ve always kept our tuitions low thanks to the support of our benefactors, but this gives parents an even greater sense they are contributing towards their child’s education,” said Tremblay, a father of five who is also in the program.
Reaching Higher N.H., however, warns this expansion could eat up much of a state budget surplus that could be spent for other priorities like expanding mental health treatment or making housing and childcare more affordable.
“The choice to increase funding instead for a program that research shows doesn’t improve student achievement, and instead causes catastrophic academic harm, will have significant long-term implications for the future of education in New Hampshire,” said Christina Pretorius, policy director for Reaching Higher N.H.
Rep. Joe Alexander, R-Goffstown who is openly gay, urged the House to add new groups to get EFAs that ranged from all LGBTQ+ students to those whose parents worried about their children getting COVID-19 or the common cold.
“I believe students like me (should) be able to attend a school that they feel more comfortable at,” Alexander said.
Rep. Linda Tanner, D-Sunapee, coined her own idiom to argue these categories were deliberately too broad.
“This bill is a fox in sheep’s clothing to try and convince more people to apply for EFAs,” Tanner said.
The House rejected that proposal, 197-185.
The third bill to entirely lift the income cap off the program failed, 194-187.
There are two other EFA bills the House will be taking up in the coming weeks, one (HB 1652) to allow a local community to create its own EFA program and the other (HB 1677) to make eligible all parents living in communities where student test scores are below average.
The House Education Committee deadlocked on both those bills, 10-10.
