The voucher program has grown in five years from 1,635 students costing $8 million to 10,510 students this year costing $51.7 million without lawmakers approving any additional revenue source to fund the program.
The program began with the promise to help low-income families, but the percentage of low-income families participating has been dropping every year, so now they constitute 19 percent of the students. When the program began with the 2021-2022 school year, they comprised 54 percent of the students.
“Like other states with universal voucher programs, New Hampshire isn’t seeing a mass exodus from our public schools, which are attended by nearly 90 percent of students—and 95 percent of students with a disability,” said NEA-NH President Megan Tuttle. “Instead, what we are seeing is precious public dollars diverted to fund a second, private and unaccountable, education system that leaves less money to properly fund public schools and control property taxes.”
Credit: Gary Rayno. In-DepthNH