Letter to the Editor:
In 2021 NH’s Legislature and Governor approved Education Freedom Accounts (EFA). According to the NH Bulletin “the Education Freedom Account program allows parents to take the state education funding dollars that would go to their child’s public school and use them for private and homeschooling expenses instead.” A family can qualify even if their children are not and have never been in public school. As a result many of the families who took advantage of the program starting in the first year were already attending private schools or homeschooled. This means there is a substantial added cost for the program, not just a transfer of funds.
This initiative was and still is promoted as a means for lower-income families to enroll their children in programs they would not otherwise be able to afford, providing alternatives if the public school is not a good fit. However, since the children are not required to attend public school prior to receiving an EFA there is no direct experience to determine if traditional public school is a good fit.
As well, eligible New Hampshire families can earn up to 350% of the poverty level, or $109,000 for a family of four. Some would say the top end of this scale is not low income. In fact our representatives Cordelli and Peternel voted against raising the threshold for the school free and reduced lunch program to 350% of the poverty level. It should also be noted the House has approved an increase in the income threshold to 500% of the poverty level. If this passes a family of four can earn $150,000 and still qualify for an EFA.
Once a family is approved they remain approved until the last child graduates, even if the families’ income increases. In fact, if they wouldn’t qualify when additional children are age eligible they still qualify for an EFA based on the first child. Families are required to reapply each year but the reapplication does not include income information.
The Parent Handbook says “The scholarship organization will match the federal poverty guideline with the year of the tax return documents collected.” Interestingly the application also includes this question: “If you do not file taxes, but are working or have other sources of income not reported elsewhere, please enter the annual amount below.” It’s unclear how the CSF evaluates the application when the applicant does not complete a tax return to use for comparison/accuracy. And why are providing tax dollars to someone who does not even file a tax return?
The money comes out of the state’s Education Trust Fund, established to meet the state’s adequate funding mandate to traditional public schools. Adequate funding is a state obligation specified in the NH constitution. After 40 plus years, instead of meeting its obligation to traditional public schools, the state now uses them for a variety of other programs like EFAs.
Karen Burnett-Kurie
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