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, regulations and more, on this page.
We do not administer this program.
17
Participating Students (2018–19)
6
Participating Schools (2019–20)
$14,000
Maximum Voucher Value (2017–18)
88%
Maximum Value as a Percentage of Public School Per-student Spending
<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.
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.
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 1 percent of New Hampshire students are eligible to participate and only a handful of students statewide actually do so. The maximum voucher size is about $14,000, which is about 88 percent of per-student spending at New Hampshire’s district schools.
In order to expand access to educational choice, New Hampshire policymakers should expand eligibility to all students.
Additionally, although New Hampshire’s town tuitioning program mostly avoids unnecessary and counterproductive regulations, the program prohibits families from choosing to attend religious schools. This discriminatory policy violates the First Amendment and a similar policy in Maine is currently the subject of litigation.
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
- Must be non-sectarian
- 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
Governing Statutes
Legal History
On September 2, 2020, the Institute for Justice filed litigation in New Hampshire, seeking to have the courts recognize the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Espinoza v. Montana Dept of Revenue (see Montana), which would allow religious schools to participate in New Hampshire’s town tuitioning voucher program. Pending. Griffin v. New Hampshire Dept of Education, Merrimack Superior Court at Concord, NH, Docket No. 217-2020-CV-00480.
Town Tuitioning Program State Groups
That Support School Choice
Children’s Scholarship Fund New Hampshire provides scholarships to empower low-income New Hampshire families to choose the schools that best fit their children’s needs, regardless of their income or ZIP Code.