SB 295

The bait-and-switch is complete. When Education Freedom Accounts were created in 2021, supporters sold them as a lifeline for low-income families trapped in failing schools. The income cap (originally 300% of federal poverty level) was the proof: this was about helping poor kids, they said. Trust us.

SB 295, sponsored by Sen. Victoria Sullivan (R-Manchester), removed that income cap entirely. Now any family in New Hampshire — regardless of income — can take state education funding and spend it on private school tuition, homeschool materials, tutoring, or other approved expenses. A family earning half a million dollars a year gets the same taxpayer subsidy as a family earning $30,000.

The fiscal impact is staggering. With no income cap, EFA enrollment is projected to surge. Every new EFA student represents money leaving the public school system. The bill does institute a 10,000-student enrollment cap, but it includes exceptions that could allow unlimited growth. And once the program is universal, the political pressure to raise or eliminate the enrollment cap will be enormous — because now wealthy, politically connected families have skin in the game.

This is the voucher movement's playbook, executed perfectly: start small, target sympathetic populations, build the program, then blow the doors open. Every state that has gone universal has seen the same pattern. NH just completed step three. Governor Ayotte signed it into law.