Action Alert:

Public Hearing on SB 101 – Open Enrollment

Wednesday, March 25, 1:00 p.m.

Granite Place, Concord

 

NH Legislators are rushing forward with a bill that could significantly impact local school funding. SB 101 allows students to transfer between school districts and requires every community to pay a receiving district for a student who chooses to attend a receiving district and requires that the parents/guardian of the student pay the difference if the average cost per pupil is higher at the receiving school.

 

This bill will further develop school districts and families that are the “have’s” and the “have not’s.”  When families who are wealthy enough move their students to other school districts, those monies to support their local school district leave with them.

Students remaining in the sending school districts are left with fewer resources. Families who do not have the ability to transport their child to other districts will lose. 

 

When the local tax dollars leave districts for students transferring out, districts are left with fewer resources and no way to recover that funding.  For example, if a student leaves a district for another, the sending district must still cover all district fixed costs including staffing, buildings, transportation, insurances, utilities, and the like – minus the transferred student’s tuition. One result? Higher local property taxes.

 

School districts and citizens across the state have raised serious concerns about this bill and have opposed it on warrant articles last year and this year. The Open Enrollment bill has not yet been carefully discussed and vetted.[1]

 

Next Wednesday is ONLY public hearing for this bill, so please act as soon as possible.

 

Taking Action:

 

  1. Attend the public hearing 1 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25, at Granite Place, Concord, NH.  Help to fill the room and the hallways.  

    If you cannot attend, provide online testimony, email and/or call.

    2.  Provide online testimony:

— Sign into the House Remote Testimony tool to voice your opposition.

— Enter your personal information.
— Select:

  • Wednesday, March 25 on the calendar
  • House Education and Policy Committee 
  • 1:00 p.m. – SB 101
  • I am a member of the public.
  • I am representing myself.

— Select: “I oppose this bill”; then hit the submit button at the bottom of the form. 

— Adding remote testimony is strongly suggested to strengthen the case.
Please note: The form accepts testimony through the end of the day of each bill’s public hearing. Testimony must be submitted online by 11:59 PM on the day of the bill’s hearing.

3. Contact Your Representatives directly by Tuesday evening to oppose SB 101 by signing into the House members’ page.  Remember: providing testimony is stronger than simply stating your position.

4. Email the NH House Education and Policy Committee and tell them to OPPOSE SB 101: HouseEducationCommittee@leg.state.nh.us

5. Call, email, or write a postcard to Governor Ayotte, telling her to veto this bill. 

📞 603-271-2121

📧 GovernorAyotte@governor.nh.gov

👉She also has a contact form on her website if people prefer that:

🌐 www.governor.nh.gov/contact-governor-ayotte

 

Additional Talking Points for SB 101:

  • Public education is a right for all and should be supported through proper funding.  The bill will not only create competition between school districts to make them better; it will also harm poor districts and smaller school districts.
  • While some students can transfer to districts with greater opportunities because of transportation resources, students without transportation would remain in districts with fewer resources and programs, thus draining the district even more and widening the funding inequalities between districts that have existed for decades.
  • The potential disparities could undo in some ways the work of Brown v. the Board of Education (1954) and potentially stratify schools and communities in different dimensions.  The bill needs safeguards against potential discrimination.
  • The bill places more unexpected pressure on local taxpayers.  For example, shifting enrollments would place undue stress on budget planning and infrastructure.
  • Receiving schools may be pulling students with desirable skills, creating more educational disparities. 
  • The bill requires that school districts accept students from anywhere in the state.
  • According to NHPR, 2-17-2026, “[forty three] other states already have open enrollment, but public education advocates said that overlooks differences in how states fund education. A new study from Reaching Higher NH found that many states don’t require school districts to pay the district their student chooses.”  Another example of how NH would underfund public education.

[1] Note that a second part of SB 101 provides a qualification to the existing parental bill of rights — a “limited exemption from parental consent required for certain recordings” — which may be addressed in the hearing.