New Hampshire
Town Tuitioning Program
- Voucher
- Enacted 2017
- Launched 2017
New Hampshire’s Town Tuitioning Program, re-enacted and launched in 2017 to include private schools, allows towns that lack district schools at a student’s grade level to use public dollars for children to attend any public or approved private, non-religious school in or outside of New Hampshire. The “tuitioning” district pays the tuition directly to the “receiving” schools. Learn more about this program, including student funding and regulations on this page.
We do not administer this program.
Jump Links
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17
Participating Students (2018–19)
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80
Eligible Schools (2010–21)
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$14,000
Average Voucher Value (2017–18)
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88%
Value as a Percentage of Public School Per-student Spending (2017-18)
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<1%
of Students Eligible Statewide
New Hampshire Town Tuitioning Participation
Student Funding
When students are tuitioned at public schools, the sending town pays the receiving school district or private school an amount equal to the receiving school’s expenses of operation, as estimated by the state board of education the preceding year. That figure is calculated separately for elementary, junior high and high schools. Operation costs do not include the transportation of “tuitioning” students. When a family chooses a private school approved as a “school tuition program,” the sending town contracts with that private school for an appropriate amount that covers the private school’s costs to educate that student.
(Last updated December 18, 2023)
Student Eligibility
Students must live in New Hampshire and reside in an identified tuition town. A “tuition town” lacks a district school that offers the grade levels students need.
(Last updated December 18, 2023)
EdChoice Expert Feedback
New Hampshire’s town tuitioning program helps students access schools that are the right fit for them, but policymakers could do more to expand educational opportunity.
Eligibility is limited to students living in towns that do not operate public schools for student’s grade level, making it one of the most restrictive educational choice programs in the nation. Fewer than one percent of New Hampshire students are eligible to participate and only a handful of students statewide actually do so.
To expand access to educational choice, New Hampshire policymakers should expand eligibility to all students.
New Hampshire’s town tuitioning program mostly avoids unnecessary and counterproductive regulations.
(Last updated December 18, 2023)
Rules and Regulations
- Income Limit: None
- Prior Year Public School Requirement: None
- Geographic Limit: District (without a public school at a student’s grade level)
- Enrollment Cap: None
- Voucher Cap: 100% of the public school per-pupil funding
- Testing Mandates: Nationally norm-referenced tests
School Requirements
- Receiving schools must report student performance progress to the state
- Administer a nationally recognized standardized assessment
- Schools with 10 or more tuitioning students that score in the 40th percentile or below for three consecutive years may lose receiving status
- Districts must report the tuition and fees paid for town tuitioning
(Last updated December 18, 2023)
Legal History
On September 2, 2020, the Institute for Justice filed litigation seeking the New Hampshire courts to recognize the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue (see MONTANA) and thus allow religious schools to participate in New Hampshire’s town tuitioning voucher program. The case was voluntarily dismissed by plaintiffs on July 28, 2021, after Governor Chris Sununu signed H.B. 282 allowing students to choose religious schools under town tuitioning. Griffin v. New Hampshire Dept. of Education, Merrimack Superior Court at Concord, NH, Docket No. 217-2020-CV-00480.
(Last updated December 18, 2023)