THE ISSUES

New Hampshire
Education Freedom Accounts

Where Are Our Tax Dollars actually Going?

$62.6 million. 12,500 students. No income limit.

New Hampshire's Education Freedom Account (EFA) program, commonly called the school voucher program, takes money from the state's Education Trust Fund and gives eligible families taxpayer-funded accounts to spend on private school tuition, homeschooling expenses, online education, instructional materials, and other approved educational costs.

For the 2026-27 school year, state estimates put the program at up to 12,500 students and approximately $62.6 million in taxpayer funding. The average EFA award is estimated at about $5,010 per student.

And, unlike the program that was originally sold as assistance for lower-income families, there is now no household income limit.

How did we get here?

Bedford's Republican legislators voted in 2025 to remove the household income limit:

Brian Labrie

Kristin Noble

John Schneller

The NH EFA Program started small, but it didn't stay that way. For the 2026-27 school year, 12,500 students are participating, for a total of over $60 million.

When New Hampshire first created EFAs in 2021, eligibility was limited to families below an income threshold. State law allows program enrollment to keep growing at a rate of 25% every year.

At this rate, the NH Education Trust Fund could be paying for over 30,000 private school and homeschool students by 2030.

2021: EFA program created
Income eligibility was limited to families at or below 300% of the federal poverty level.

2023: Eligibility expanded
The income limit increased to 350% of the federal poverty level.

2025: Income limit eliminated
SB 295 removed the household income requirement entirely. The law took effect June 10, 2025.

Today, a family does not have to demonstrate ANY financial need to receive an EFA. A family could make $50,000 or $500,000.

What are taxpayers
actually paying for?

The Concord Monitor revealed that families using school voucher funds spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on activities, like:

$1.4 million

in amazon purchases

$46,000

at area ski mountains

$35,000

at martial arts schools

$16,000

at equestrian facilities

$24,000

for elite soccer and hockey clubs & sports training facilities

Private schools receive

a significant share of EFA dollars.

Private and religious schools get one of the biggest chunks of EFA money:

$11.5 million in the 2024-2025 school year.

Meanwhile, New Hampshire's public schools still need help.

School voucher expansion is happening while communities across New Hampshire are struggling with the cost of public education. Bedford has one of the lowest costs per pupil in the entire state, but too much of that cost falls on the backs of homeowners in the form of skyrocketing property taxes.

At 50th in the nation (dead last!), the New Hampshire Supreme Court has ruled twice that our state's funding of public education is unconstitutionally low.

Instead of solving New Hampshire's longstanding school-funding problems, our Bedford lawmakers have dramatically expanded a program that diverts our hard-earned tax dollars to private schools for wealthy families.