A new law mandating open enrollment across the state could go into effect as early as next month, neutralizing the efforts of local school districts to pass warrant articles to limit the loss of students and the tuition bills that would follow.
Senate Republicans passed a surprise amendment to an unrelated bill on Thursday that circumvents the standard bill hearing process. If passed, it would take effect as soon as it was passed by the House and signed by Gov. Kelly Ayotte.
The House is set to convene next Thursday. A spokesperson for Ayotte did not respond to a question about whether she would sign the bill if it reaches her desk.
The future of open enrollment in the state has become among the most divisive education issues in recent months, after the state Supreme Court ruled last fall that school districts are responsible for covering tuition when their students choose to enroll at other public schools, regardless of whether the student’s home district has an open enrollment policy of its own.
In response, school leaders keyed in on a loophole in the current law, which allows districts with open enrollment policies to set the number of students who can leave to zero. At least nine school districts in the Concord area have either already adopted these restrictive policies or added warrant articles to their annual meetings that would do so.
On Thursday, Senate Republicans and Democrats provided starkly different predictions about what would happen if students could enroll at any public school in the state.
“This legislation is going to cause chaos,” Democratic Sen. Debra Altschiller of Stratham said. “It’s going to cost local taxpayers more money, and it will do nothing to improve the educational opportunities for students whose families cannot afford to transport their children to an out-of-district school.”
The new law would require school districts to pay between 80 and 100 percent of their average cost per student to the district a student chooses to enroll in. The law would require parents to transport their children to an out-of-district school and would permit the school in which a student is enrolled to charge the difference in tuition between its average cost per student and that of the student’s home district.
Senate Democrats said the program would exacerbate inequalities between students and force certain school districts to close schools as students enrolled elsewhere.
Senate Republicans said the concerns were overblown.
“We heard these arguments before when we started venturing into charter schools,” Senate President Sharon Carson of Londonderry said. “Guess what? The world didn’t end.”
Proponents of open enrollment have argued that it would grant all students access to the best public school options for them, regardless of where they live.
Twenty-five states currently mandate open enrollment, according to a report from the National Conference of State Legislatures.
It had been widely anticipated that the legislature would pass a universal open enrollment law this session, but the prevailing assumption had been it would go into effect at the start of next school year.
The accelerated timeline could make the efforts of local school boards over the next two months moot. Already this month, residents in Kearsarge and Pembroke established open enrollment policies that would prevent any students from enrolling elsewhere at their home districts’ expense. Residents in districts including Bow, Chichester, Allenstown and John Stark are scheduled to take similar votes at their annual meetings in March.
Open enrollment is one lever Republican lawmakers have focused on in their efforts to expand educational choice in the state.
Last year, the state significantly expanded the state’s education freedom account program. On Thursday as well, Ayotte opted into a new federal program that allows New Hampshire residents to receive a tax credit when they make donations to funds for students’ educational expenses.