More New Hampshire families that don’t qualify as low-income are receiving publicly funded school vouchers to pay for private, religious and homeschooling expenses through the state’s Education Freedom Account program.

The information, based on data from the New Hampshire Department of Education, shows enrollment in the school voucher program grew 25% since last school year. The state will now fund 5,321 school vouchers in the 2024-2025 school year, for a total estimated cost of $27.7 million for the year, according to an analysis by Reaching Higher NH, the nonprofit that studies education and education policy.

In 2021, nearly 54% of the total student enrollment were low-income (879 students out of 1,635), Reaching Higher found. This year, 37% of students, or 1,974 out of 5,321 students, were low-income.

In its analysis, Reaching Higher measured low-income students as those eligible for participation in the Free and Reduced-Price Meals Program.

The vouchers are given through the state’s Education Freedom Account (EFA) program and funded through the state’s Education Trust Fund. To qualify for EFA money, a family household income may not exceed 300% of the poverty level. In 2021, that was $79,500 for a family of four, and now it is $93,600.

After that first year, families are not required to prove income eligibility while the child is in school up to the age of 20.

Reaching Higher noted by the end of this school year, $73 million in school vouchers will have been distributed through the EFA program.

Gov. Chris Sununu and EFA proponents say the money is justified to give parents options beyond traditional public schools.

Christina Pretorius, Reaching Higher’s public policy director, said in an interview that other public programs, like Medicaid, WIC (the Women’s, Infants and Children food nutrition program), fuel assistance and free and reduced lunch, require annual income verification and are subject to public scrutiny.

Recipients of EFA funds aren’t.

Sununu has said it would be disruptive if a family had to change schools because of a change in income, adding that public school students are not means-tested.

Pretorius also questioned whether families would actually withdraw from private, religious or homeschooling if their family went over the income limit.

“Between 70% and 80% of these (EFA) students had already been enrolled in homeschooling or private schools,” she said. “What we are seeing is the subsidizing of choices that were already made.”

“We are not unique in this trend here in New Hampshire,” Pretorius said. “We are seeing across the country that wealthier families are receiving them, and there is a real lack of transparency and accountability on how they are being used.”

— SUSAN GEIER/GRANITE STATE NEWS COLLABORATIVE