HB 115 – relative to universal eligibility for the education freedom account program
This bill would remove the income limit from the school voucher program, allowing all students in the state to use the program. This would drastically increase the cost of the voucher program to over $100 million a year, almost entirely to pay for students who were already enrolled in private schools or being homeschooled that the State was not previously paying to support. This will siphon money away from other uses that would benefit public education in the state.
- The bill was amended by the house to raise the income limit to 400% of the federal poverty guideline for the 2025-26 school year, and remove all limits starting in the 2026-27 school year. The bill passed 198-180.
- The House Finance Committee included the language of the bill in its proposed State Budget. This bill was ultimately retained by the Senate, but a nearly identical bill, SB 295, creating a universal voucher eligibility was passed and signed into law on June 10.
HB 283 – relative to the list of subjects that comprise an adequate education
This bill changes the definition of an adequate education by removing arts education, world languages, engineering and technology, personal finance, and computer science, as well as removing civics, government, economics, geography, history, and Holocaust and genocide studies from the definition of social studies. By removing these subjects from the definition of an adequate education, the State could reduce its adequacy aid payments to local school districts.
- A public hearing was held by the House Education Policy and Administration Committee on February 10. 67 people testified, with only the bill’s sponsor speaking in favor of the bill. 30,107 Granite Staters from every city and town in the state signed in online against the bill.
- The bill was placed on the Consent Calendar as Inexpedient to Legislate and killed by a voice vote on February 20.
HB 550 – modifying the base cost of an adequate education
This bill increases the base adequacy aid paid by the State to the $7,356.01 set in the ConVal decision. It also expands the definition of an adequate education by explicitly including all of the costs associated with delivering an adequate education that are outlined in the ConVal decision, including school nurses, building and facilities maintenance, and transportation. The current base adequacy amount is $4,182.
- The bill was placed on the Consent Calendar as Inexpedient to Legislate and killed by a voice vote on March 13.
HB 603 – relative to increasing the adequacy grant for pupils receiving special education services
This bill increases the differentiated aid amount for students receiving special education services in the adequate education formula to $29,556. That dollar value was the average additional cost associated with providing special education services to students during the 2022-23 school year. The current differentiated aid amount is $2,142. This bill would result in the State paying for most of the costs associated with special education, helping local districts by reducing downshifting and insulating them against the unpredictability of these costs.
- The bill was placed on the Consent Calendar as Inexpedient to Legislate and killed by a voice vote on March 13.
HB 734 – relative to the state education property tax and the low- and moderate-income homeowners property tax relief program.
This bill changes the Statewide Education Property Tax (SWEPT) by requiring all revenues collected by the tax be remitted by municipalities to the State. This change would bring SWEPT in line with the Rand decision. The bill also has the amount collected by SWEPT, currently $363 million, increase with inflation every year.
On top of SWEPT reform, this bill also expands eligibility for the State’s low- and moderate-income homeowners property tax relief program by raising the income caps and drastically increasing the amount of aid that can be paid out by the program.
- A public hearing was held by the House Education Funding Committee on January 30. The bill was retained in committee for additional work.
HR 7 – instructing the house of representatives to investigate whether grounds exist to impeach Judge David Ruoff
This resolution seeks to have the NH House of Representatives investigate Superior Court Judge David Ruoff and see if grounds exist for his impeachment. The stated reason for this in the text of the resolution is because of Ruoff’s decision in the ConVal case finding the State’s current base adequacy aid payments are unconstitutionally low. The resolution claims Ruoff had no authority to issue a ruling that required the State to spend money, ignoring the fact that Ruoff’s decision follows a 30 year history of NH Courts upholding the right of NH students to a State-funded, adequate education.
- The bill was placed on the Consent Calendar as Inexpedient to Legislate and killed by a voice vote on March 26.
HCR 11 – declaring the directives of the judicial branch in the Claremont cases that the legislative and executive branches define an “adequate education,” adopt “standards of accountability,” and “guarantee adequate funding” of a public education are not binding on the legislative and executive branches.
This resolution aims to declare that the NH State Legislature and Governor do not have to comply with the constitutional responsibility to fund an adequate education as laid out in the Claremont decisions of the 1990s and upheld in multiple court rulings since then. The resolution claims that these decisions were judicial overreach, when in reality, the Courts have stepped in again and again to affirm the right of NH students to have a State-funded, adequate education.
- A public hearing will be held by the House Judiciary Committee on March 5. The bill was retained in committee for additional work.