ERIC Number: ED672452
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Feb
Pages: 5
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Projected State Costs of Universal EFAs in Years 1 & 2
EdChoice
New Hampshire's Education Freedom Account (EFA) program is restricted to families that make no more than 350% of the federal poverty level. (That's $90,370 for a family of three and $112,525 for a family of four.) Republicans in the state Legislature have proposed removing the income cap and allowing all students to participate in the program. Opponents of expansion have incorrectly asserted that taking EFAs universal would cost the state more than $100 million in Year 1. But to reach that number, they included thousands of ineligible pre-school students, out-of-state students and current EFA students. They also assumed without evidence that every eligible student would take an EFA. No school choice program in the country has a 100% take-up rate among eligible students outside the public school system, and no program has a take-up rate that's even in the same ballpark. After removing ineligible students and using more realistic take-up rates based on actual program experience in New Hampshire and other states, the authors estimate that only 1,479 students not currently enrolled in a public school are likely to take an expanded EFA in Year 1, and 2,501 are likely to take one in Year 2. Because this new population of eligible students comes from households with incomes above 350% of the federal poverty level (FPL), the average EFA grant will be smaller than in the early years of the program in which eligibility was restricted to lower-income students, about 40% of whom received additional aid for having incomes lower than 185% of the FPL. The authors project a per-pupil EFA grant of $4,410 for newly eligible students above 350% of FPL vs. $5,204 in the current school year. That leads to an estimated fiscal impact on the state budget of $6,522,390 in Year 1 and $11,029,410 in Year 2.
Descriptors: School Choice, Program Costs, State Programs, Expenditure per Student, Eligibility, Home Schooling, Private Schools, Elementary Secondary Education
EdChoice. 111 Monument Circle Suite 2650, Indianapolis, IN 46204. Tel: 317-681-0745; e-mail: info@edchoice.org; Web site: http://www.edchoice.org
Publication Type: Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: EdChoice; Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy
Identifiers - Location: New Hampshire
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A