School administrators speak against open enrollment bill awaiting House vote

Sen. Tim Lang (center), a Sanbornton Republican, is one of the author's of the open enrollment bill. (Photo by Will Skipworth/New Hampshire Bulletin)

As legislation to create an “open enrollment” system for public schools awaits a final vote in the House, the state’s school superintendents association is speaking against the idea.

In a statement Monday, the New Hampshire School Administrators Association said the bill, House Bill 751, would “risk overriding local decision-making.”

The Republican bill, which passed the Senate Jan. 29 along party lines, would require New Hampshire public schools to accept students from anywhere in the state, not just those living in their district, providing they have the space. The bill would allow school boards to determine whether or not they do have space, and it would require that the school district in which the student resides send tuition money to the district receiving the student. 

That tuition can be no higher than what the sending district is already spending per pupil in its own schools; if the receiving district’s cost per pupil is higher, the student’s family could be asked to pay the difference, under the bill.

Republicans and school choice advocates say the proposed system will remove barriers to quality education for students living in struggling school districts whose family is not able to easily move to better districts. They have also said it will encourage districts to make improvements to compete for students. 

“This is about public school dollars staying in the public school, right?” said Sen. Tim Lang, a Sanbornton Republican and an author of the final bill. “And yet still providing educational choice to parents.”

But opponents have argued it will cause budget headaches for both sending and receiving school districts, and sap funding from districts in less wealthy towns that are already struggling. 

More from this section

How manufactured housing prices have changed in New Hampshire

New Hampshire's Median Rent Is Up to $2,143, 9th Highest in the U.S.

Hottest Februarys in New Hampshire since 1895

In its statement, the NHSAA said it is “fully prepared to partner with elected officials to broaden student choice,” but that the approach taken in HB 751 is not ideal.

Instead, any open enrollment bill should allow for local decision-making, the association has argued.  

“Without careful consideration of ‘fixed costs’ and changing enrollment dynamics, such policies could place an undue financial burden on local taxpayers,” it wrote.

Currently, voters in school districts are empowered to opt in to becoming an open enrollment district and accept students, but for years, just one district, Prospect Mountain in Alton, chose to do so.

In recent weeks, a number of school boards have proposed entering into open enrollment in order to use a component of the current law: the ability for an open enrollment district to stop its own students from leaving. Those attempts — which need voter approval at annual meetings in February and March — inspired the decision by Senate Republicans to fast track HB 751 to the House so it can head to Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s desk quickly. 

If passed and signed, HB 751 would take effect immediately and would override any open enrollment policies adopted by voters this spring. 

Because the Senate has passed the bill with an amendment, the House must vote on whether it will accept the changes, reject them, or request a committee of conference to negotiate a final bill with the Senate. That vote can happen whenever House Speaker Sherman Packard decides. 

Packard did not call a vote on the bill at the House session last Thursday. He could do so this Thursday.