The Potential and Perils of School Choice -- New Hampshire Style

This year, House Republicans are pushing to make open enrollment mandatory across the state, advocating for a law that would require all school districts to accept students from outside their district if they have capacity. (Photo by Dave Cummings/New Hampshire Bulletin)

by Ethan DeWitt, New Hampshire Bulletin
June 12, 2025

This story was updated on June 12 at 10:10 a.m. to correct the bill number of an earlier open enrollment bill, House Bill 741.

In 2009, New Hampshire lawmakers passed a law intended to be transformational. The new law allowed public school boards to vote to accept students from any school district in the state.

Prospect Mountain High School in Alton chose to adopt that policy of “open enrollment.” To the school’s superintendent, Timothy Broadrick, it was a survival move in an era of declining enrollment.

“I can tell you from our direct experience that if you wish to have a functional public school choice system in the state of New Hampshire, this is necessary,” he said at a Senate hearing in April.

But nearly two decades later, Prospect Mountain is the only school in the state to choose the open enrollment option.

This year, House Republicans are pushing to make open enrollment mandatory across the state, advocating for a law that would require all school districts to accept students from outside their district if they have capacity.

Though the idea has seen resistance in the Senate this year, the House doubled down last week. The chamber added a last-minute amendment to an unrelated piece of legislation, Senate Bill 210, sending the universal open enrollment idea to the Senate one more time.

The Senate has voted multiple times this year to hold similar proposals for further study. And representatives of public schools are urging lawmakers to put the brakes on the idea, arguing it could create chaos for school districts.

But on Thursday, senators will vote on whether to accept the House’s proposal and send it to Gov. Kelly Ayotte, reject it entirely, or request further negotiations with the House through a committee of conference.

The amendment in SB 210 would require that public school districts post monthly reports to their websites listing the number of vacancies in each school. It would allow parents to apply to send their children to school districts, without paying application fees. And it would require the receiving district to accept the student as long as there is space, with exceptions possible if the student was expelled from the previous district or has a documented history of disciplinary issues or chronic absenteeism.

The bill would require the district in which the student lives to pay the receiving district at least 80% of the per-pupil annual cost at the receiving district; under the bill, the Department of Education would set the exact amount.

To House Republicans, the bill would be another step forward for the school choice movement, whose supporters believe parents should have more options for their kids’ education than the public school district in the town where they live.

Rep. Glenn Cordelli, who authored a similar bill earlier this year, argues open enrollment policies would create more opportunity.

“We hear that public schools are open to all students, but that’s not true,” he said at a hearing in April. “We practice ZIP code discrimination when it comes to public schools that children can attend.”

Cordelli contends that making the policy mandatory would force public school districts to compete for students, knowing they could lose them to other districts. That, he says, could inspire schools to try new teaching approaches to attract students.

Broadrick agrees with that idea.

“My school boards, along with our high school faculty and myself, welcome an opportunity to compete with charter schools, with private schools and with other public schools, to show families that we are worthy of their choice,” he said.

But others are warning the Senate not to vote to make open enrollment mandatory, arguing it would be unfair for both wealthy and under-resourced districts.

“You’re basically forcing one school district to subsidize a different school district,” said Barrett Christina, executive director of the New Hampshire School Boards Association, in testimony to the Senate in April. “The voters in one town are going to be subsidizing the school district in another town.”

Brian Winslow, chairman of the Northwood School Board, said if universal open enrollment passed, it would be difficult for school boards to set budgets, not knowing if they will be receiving students or losing them.

“This just would represent an unfunded additional charge to Northwood students that may balance out (or that) may not balance out,” he said.

Observers believed the House’s proposal had stalled this year after the Senate voted to retain House Bill 741 and removed similar language from the House-passed budget. But with the potential re-emergence of the issue — both in SB 210 and in the coming negotiations between the House and Senate over the budget policy bill, House Bill 2 — the New Hampshire School Administrators Association is urging restraint.

In a press release Tuesday, the association issued a bulleted list of issues it has with implementation of SB 210, including how special education funding would be coordinated between districts receiving students, how the new law would affect existing tuition agreements between school districts, and how school districts could budget for increases or decreases in students throughout the year.

“A district that sees a sudden increase of students during the school year will face two choices: Cut existing services to stay within approved spending, or call a special meeting to raise taxes. Similarly, a district that sees a sudden decline in enrollment will face a decrease in revenue and simultaneous increase in expenses,” the association said in a statement.

The Senate has expressed skepticism about the bill, and in particular about implementing it in time for the 2025-2026 school year. When an earlier version of the bill, House Bill 741, was heard before the Senate in April, nine people registered support and 752 people registered as opposed, according to a Senate hearing report. The Senate later voted to re-refer the bill to the Senate Education Committee, allowing the committee to work on the bill until January, when it must make a decision.

Cordelli argues the bill would address advocates’ longstanding concerns about keeping public dollars in public schools. But he argues that providing choice is important.

“The status quo was not working in many places,” he said. “The education freedom that we have been talking about is not available only for private schools or home schooling. It should be available for public schools as well, so that the child can have the education opportunity that best meets their individual needs.”

Prospect Mountain’s open enrollment status has sparked a legal dispute with the Pittsfield School District, after Prospect Mountain accepted four Pittsfield students and asked the Pittsfield School District to pay tuition. The Pittsfield School District has argued it did not authorize the students to go to Prospect Mountain and should not have to pay the tuition; the New Hampshire State Board of Education ruled in May 2024 that they must.

Pittsfield School District filed an appeal of the State Board’s ruling to the state Supreme Court in August 2024; in November, the court indicated it would take up the appeal. The court has not yet scheduled oral arguments, but could decide to waive oral arguments and issue a written decision from the briefs. It has not yet issued a decision.

In the meantime, lawmakers did pass a separate bill this year, House Bill 771, that clarifies that school districts must pay tuition to open enrollment school districts under the current law. That bill is awaiting House approval of changes made by the Senate.

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Ethan DeWitt is the New Hampshire Bulletin’s education reporter. Previously, he worked as the New Hampshire State House reporter for the Concord Monitor, covering the state, the Legislature, and the New Hampshire presidential primary. A Westmoreland native, Ethan started his career as the politics and health care reporter at the Keene Sentinel. Email: edewitt@newhampshirebulletin.com

New Hampshire Bulletin is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.