Competing EFA bills face final hearing

Yahoo

23-04-2025

Opponents outnumbered supporters during the final public hearing Tuesday on competing House- and Senate-passed bills that would lift the income cap for any parents to receive a taxpayer-financed Education Freedom Account grant.
What remains to be seen is just how House and Senate Republican leaders intend to reach a compromise on changes that go far beyond what Gov. Kelly Ayotte has proposed for the program.
The EFA program provides payment to offset some of the parents' costs to send a child to a private, alternative public or home school program.
The Senate Education Committee took testimony on the House bill (HB 115) from Rep. Valerie McDonnell, R-Salem, that would raise the income eligibility ceiling in the 2025-26 school year from 350% to 400% of the federal poverty level.
For families of four, that would raise the threshold from $112,525 to $128,600 annually.
Under the bill, the income cap would be eliminated for the 2026-27 school year.
Last week, the Senate Education Funding Committee held the final hearing on the Senate's bill (SB 295) from Sen. Victoria Sullivan, R-Manchester, that eliminates an income cap but places a limit of 10,000 EFAs granted in a single year.
Currently, just over 5,000 families have EFAs, with an average grant of $5,400.
In her budget address in February, Ayotte endorsed eliminating EFA income limits for parents whose children are enrolled in public schools.
Studies have shown that as many as 80% of parents who received EFAs already had their children enrolled in non-public schools.
McDonnell said the House plan is more defensible.
'Ours is a truly universal program beginning in Fiscal Year 2027,' McDonnell said. 'I look forward to the day when no child is turned away from an educational option that best meets their needs.'
Sullivan said many EFA opponents fail to understand parents don't get a check from the state.
Instead, they apply for reimbursement from the program administrator — the New Hampshire Scholarship Program — that then pays the grant to the school program.
'This sets it apart from a voucher program you have seen in other states,' McDonnell said.
The Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy and Ed Choice, both supporters of the EFAs, issued a report which said many wealthier families that send children to private schools won't seek reimbursement.
'No state has ever experienced a 100% takeout rate,' said Ed Tarnowski, policy and advocacy director with Ed Choice.
Janet Ward, vice president of the League of Women Voters, called EFAs 'taxation without representation' for those paying property taxes to support both private and private school systems.
'There are families who get these EFAs who can clearly afford the tuition that they pay,' Ward said.
Rep. David Luneau, D-Hopkinton, pointed out voters in towns across the state voted in support of resolutions calling for more public accountability in the EFA program.
House and Senate GOP leaders could decide not to risk sending an EFA bill to the governor that goes beyond what she has requested.
As a fallback position, the House-approved budget trailer bill (HB 2) also includes EFA legislation contained in the separate House bill.
+++
What's Next: The House and Senate will vote in the coming weeks on legislation that came from the other branch.
Prospects: The best hope for EFA expansion is to make it part of a grand bargain on the two-year state budget. Under this scenario, the changes would take effect unless Ayotte decided to veto the entire budget.
[e-mail]