Garry Rayno has been covering New Hampshire politics for decades. He writes in InDepthNH with a sense of astonishment about the Legislature’s eagerness to remove the income limits on the state’s recently enacted vouchers, noting that vouchers (called “Education Freedom Accounts”) are claimed mostly by families whose kids never attended public schools and that vouchers are likely to bust the state’s budget. The state’s education commissioner Frank Edelblut homeschooled his children, and he seems to view public schools with contempt. He was appointed by Governor Chris Sununu.
He writes:
…Two of the three bills would either remove any income cap or have a list of situations that automatically would qualify a student for the program, making both bills about universal vouchers with no limits on parents’ income.
The first year of New Hampshire’s EFA program, the income limit was 300 percent of federal poverty, and that was increased last session to 350 percent.
House Bill 1665 would increase the income cap to 500 percent of poverty or over $150,000 for a family of four, which is just over the state’s median income, which means slightly more than half the families in the state would qualify.
And yes the greatest use of the EFA program money continues to be for tuition at private and religious schools and homeschool programs for kids who were not in public schools when the EFA program began in 2021.
House Bill 1634 would remove any income cap from the program and House Bill 1561 has nine categories with automatic eligibility, which together, provide parents with an opportunity to successfully find a reason to have their student or students qualify.
Reaching Higher NH estimates if all the students in private or religious schools or homeschools qualify for an EFA, it would cost the state about $105 million, which is a far cry from the $300,000 Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut claimed would be the first year cost of the program.
But his estimate was much less than the real cost — $8 million — the first year, and $15 million the second year and as estimated $25 million this school year.
That is money that comes from the Education Trust Fund which is used for the adequacy grants to all school districts and charter schools, special education costs, building aid and transportation.
The fund currently has a $200 million surplus but that won’t last long if the program balloons to over $100 million a year…
To date about half the states have a voucher program of some kind, most not universal or as expansive as New Hampshire’s. A handful of states have universal programs.
If you wonder what can happen with these programs when they become universal, look at Arizona.
The state’s first school voucher plan using money that would have gone to public schools — like New Hampshire’s does — began in 2011.
A proposition for a universal plan was defeated by voters in 2018, but the Republican controlled Legislature approved a universal plan in 2022 and it was signed by then outgoing Gov. Doug Doucey.
Newly elected Democratic Gov. and former Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, tried to do away with the universal plan her first year in office, but was blocked by the Republican legislature. This year she wants some guardrails and transparency for the program, but the legislature is not likely to agree.
The Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program costs the state $1 billion annually and is the biggest driver in the state’s growing budget deficit of $400 million.
Criticism of the program includes using the state money for ski passes, piano purchases and other “luxuries.”
When the program expanded, about 75 percent of the new students were never public school students, much like New Hampshire’s experience.
Another universal program is in Florida where Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed through expanding their voucher program to universal last year as he prepared to run for the GOP nomination for president.
Among the complaints after the universal program began, ironically, was state money was used for tickets to Disney World.
Idaho and Utah also have universal programs and Indiana’s covers 97 percent of the state’s students.
Most states limit eligibility for the program to less than 300 percent so currently New Hampshire is more generous than any state that does not have universal voucher programs.
For example, Maryland limits participants to185 percent, North Carolina 133 percent, Ohio 200 percent, and South Carolina to Medicaid recipients.
There are several other bills dealing with the EFA program that will come before the Legislature this year including two that would allow any student turned down for a hardship placement in another school district would automatically qualify for the EFA program the next year.
Another bill takes aim at the organization that administers the EFA program. It would require the Children’s Scholarship Fund to establish an affiliate in New Hampshire as it has in every other state where it runs their voucher programs.
This push to move money out of public education and into private entities is not unique to New Hampshire.
The last several years, many states have had bills similar to the one that made it through New Hampshire in the 2021-2022 biennial budget, as it had trouble standing on its own.
There is a great deal of dark money behind this push coming from familiar places like the Devos and the Koch Foundation and it is not all about the quality of education as they would like you to believe.
One of the last healthy bastions of unionized labor is teacher unions and many involved in the push for school choice want to see that change.
There is one bill in the Senate and one in the House that would establish the position of part-time teacher, someone who works less than 30 hours a week and does not need Department of Education credentials.
The war on public institutions is not always what it appears to be, but you can be assured at the heart of it is big money, taxes and small government.