Republican state lawmakers pushed forward open enrollment legislation Thursday, preventing Democrats from defeating it by replacing two of the Democratic lawmakers on the negotiating committee hours before the deadline. But Gov. Kelly Ayotte has indicated she may not sign the bill if it reaches her.
House Bill 751, opposed by many public education leaders, would allow New Hampshire students to go to any public school in the state and take their state education aid and local tax dollars with them.
The legislation needed the unanimous support of a special legislative committee this week to remain viable. When the committee’s two Democrats voted against it Thursday, House and Senate Republican leadership replaced them with members of their own party who supported it.
Democrats Sen. Rebecca Perkins-Kwoka and Rep. Peggy Balboni were replaced with Senate President Sharon Carson and House Majority Leader Jason Osborne.
Ayotte’s spokesperson Caroline Hakes said in an email Thursday, “That bill is not ready for prime time.”
New Hampshire students can already attend any public school in the state under an existing open enrollment law. This new bill would change how much power a local district has in preventing students from leaving for a new district and taking local tax dollars with them.
A 2025 state Supreme Court ruling clarified that under existing law, a student's home district must send 80% of what it spends per student to the new district. That payment is a mix of local taxes and state education aid, and costs can range from $15,000 to more than $30,000 per student, depending on how much a district spends on education.
The pending legislation would leave that funding scheme in place.
Currently, school districts can control costs by adopting policies that prohibit or limit students from using open enrollment to attend school outside their district. Dozens of communities took that step in March.
The pending legislation would overturn those local policies adopted by voters, and prohibit communities from preventing students from going elsewhere through open enrollment. Instead, the legislation would allow them to limit the number of students who leave to between 10% and 100% of total enrollment.
In Manchester, the state’s largest school district, that would mean a minimum of 1,200 students could use open enrollment. In Bow, it would be about 165 students.
Republicans say this new proposal gives families options if their local public school isn’t working for them. The bill’s opponents say it creates too many uncertainties, including how students’ home districts would ensure children are getting legally required special education services at their new school.
Balboni, of Rye, was one of two Democratic lawmakers replaced on the committee Thursday after she said she would vote against the bill.
“Instead of involving the broad coalition of stakeholders needed to get open enrollment policy right, Republicans did all the negotiating among themselves behind closed doors,” Balboni said in a statement. “The bill that Republicans signed off on never saw the light of day until the deadline had passed and it shows.”
The bill heads next to the full House and Senate for final approval.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the most recent version of the legislation, which says a student leaving their district would take both state education dollars and local tax dollars with them to their new district, rather than only state education dollars, as originally reported.
