Despite the change of year, Granite Staters have yet to see a change of heart from legislative Republicans in regard to their views on the Education Freedom Account (EFA) program, with plans underway to expand it rather than regulate it.
In 2021, under former Gov. Chris Sununu’s leadership, Republicans in N.H. created the EFA program to provide families with choices outside of their local public school, according to the N.H. Department of Education website.
N.H. is far from the first state to propose or implement a school voucher program. The policy has become increasingly popular within the Republican party in recent years, paired with the party’s rhetoric against public schools “indoctrinating” children into a left-wing political viewpoint.
Voucher programs, in many ways, are a solution in search of a problem. The real problem that N.H. should be tackling is the lack of public school funding and the threat it poses to rural public schools which may be forced to close their doors as enrollment continues to decline across the state.
We’ve already seen several schools in our own backyards face the threat of closure, namely Dublin Consolidated School and three other schools in Francestown, Temple and Bennington, according to a Dec. 9, 2023 article from The Keene Sentinel.
Rural public schools are first on the chopping block because if funding is not directed toward them and instead toward private schools, then it becomes unprofitable to operate in these areas with small populations.
Turning education into a for-profit enterprise is exactly the opposite of what the state should be doing, and I find it deeply sad yet ironic that many legislative Republicans who represent rural districts are willing to stab their constituents in the back just to align with what party leadership wants.
With a new governor, Republican Kelly Ayotte, and an expanded Republican majority in the state house following the 2024 election, we are now seeing attempts to expand the EFA program rather than scale it back.
A Nov. 15, 2024 article from the New Hampshire Bulletin explains the program initially included salary caps in order for a given family to be eligible. The program presently allows for families making up to 350 percent of the federal poverty level to be eligible for the program, which can amount to a family of four making $109,200 a year and still maintaining the ability to partake in the program, according to the article.
Normally I would take issue with this kind of means-testing on any governmental program. I believe capping salaries or eligibility for any social program just creates more bureaucracy and barriers to critical lifelines such as food assistance programs or Medicare and Medicaid. People often find themselves in a situation where they make too much to be considered “poor enough” for a program, but also not enough to live comfortably.
However, with a program like this, I would much rather have some level of cap in order to ensure wealthy families don’t pull their kids out of public school and stop paying into the system. Unfortunately, legislative Republicans do not see it this way anymore and have introduced a measure to eliminate any income caps to the program, according to a January 18 InDepthNH article.
This is a deeply misguided proposal that will only exacerbate the original issues with having a program like this exist in the first place. I imagine many families that pursue a program like this may not have even been sending their children to public schools in the first place, but rather homeschooling or sending them to a charter school already.
Wealthy families have more than enough money to simply pay for private schools if they want, so why should the government be handing them a free coupon for their children to attend? At this point, it isn’t about a choice. It’s actively encouraging one choice: private school.
So instead of these families sending their children to a better-funded public school, they will now be sending their children to an unvetted private school with little government oversight or involvement in the quality of said school, while public schools continue to suffer.
It is sad that the same N.H. Republicans who would never in a million years support a barrier-free program such as universal school lunches at our public schools are now more than willing to continue and expand subsidization of private schools.
Even more ironic is the fact Ayotte announced the creation of a “Commission on Government Efficiency (COGE)” on January 21, mirroring the federal “Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)” spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk.
I’m sorry, but I fail to see how an endless stream of cash being funneled into the private school industry is efficient in the slightest. Maybe Ayotte should do some reflection and consider legalizing, taxing and regulating marijuana to bring in much-needed tax revenue, as well as increasing taxes on the wealthiest in the state.
As we all know, this of course will not happen. I imagine the commission will return recommendations on slashing spending to critical social services or government functions before even glancing at the disastrous EFA program and its effect on state debt.
Nathan Hope can be contacted at
nhope@kscequinox.com
