Legislature rushing on open enrollment
Potential major changes to how public education in New Hampshire operates are currently flying under the radar. It is important that citizens in New Hampshire are aware of what is happening, and how their representatives plan to vote.
On Jan. 29, the NH Senate voted, without discussion, to fast-track a bill that would create statewide open enrollment for public schools. This bill is now scheduled to progress to the NH House this week, where it will again not have a hearing. This bill would allow any student in NH to attend school out of the district of residence and would require the “sending” district to pay tuition to the “receiving” district, with the tuition paid being at least 80% of the sending district’s per-pupil cost.
While there are aspects of open enrollment that are appealing, the implementation of this policy in NH would be disastrous for public education. A student leaving a specific school does not lower the cost of operating that school – the same number of teachers and administrators are needed and the facilities costs will not change. Yet for every student leaving the district there is an added out-of-district tuition cost, in the range of $25,000, that is not in the budget. There is nothing in this bill that will improve public education. This bill will create winners and losers whether that is the intent of the bill or not.
In the state of New Hampshire the cost of public education is largely borne by local tax dollars, not the state. The New Hampshire Supreme Court has determined that the state contribution to public education is inadequate, yet the New Hampshire Legislature is doing nothing to correct this. At the same time, the Legislature is poised to impose a massive change to local School District budgets that they do not adequately support.
I encourage all supporters of public education to contact their representatives and ask them not to support this bill. The name and contact information for your representative can be found at https://gc.nh.gov/house/members/.