By GARRY RAYNO. Distant Dome
Seven private religious schools have received over $1 million each from the Education Freedom Account program over its first four years.
The number of religious schools earning the $1 million mark is likely to be considerably higher after this school year when the enrollment nearly doubled from 5,321 students last school year to 10,510, which increased the cost from $28 million to a projected $52 million and climbing next year.
After removing expenditure reports from its website last year, the program’s administrator, Children’s Scholarship Fund NH recently posted the expenditure reports for the first four years of the program.
Those reports all show the bulk of the money for the program that was originally touted to aid low-income parents in finding alternative educational settings for their children if they did not do well in the public school environment, goes to religious and other private school tuition and programs and services for homeschooled students, many of which in all three categories were not attending public schools when they enrolled in the program.
The state funds to pay for the grants that average around $5,000 per student come from the Education Trust Fund, created in the late 1990s to address the original Claremont education lawsuit, and is the sole source of state adequacy aid for public school districts, as well as some special education and building costs.
This biennium’s state operating budget will drain the trust fund and create a projected deficit of about $60 million that will have to be replaced with general funds during this biennium.
Better than 90 percent of the students receiving EFA grants were not in public schools when they joined the program which is why critics say it provides a subsidy for wealthy families currently sending their children to religious and private schools or providing homeschooling.
The most recent expenditure report released by the CSF NH indicates 57 percent of the money goes to tuition payments to private schools.
The single largest payout for the 2024-2025 school year went to Portsmouth Christian Academy for $542,534, followed by Trinity High School, $487,356; Trinity Christian School Concord, $483,298; Concord Christian Academy, $475,929; and Mount Royal Academy in Sunapee, $428,400, rounding out the top five.
The first nonreligious school on the vendor listing by expenditures is High Mowing School in Wilton which focuses on the arts and received $274,869 in EFA grants.
The next non-religious school on the list is the Newport Montessori School sitting at 39th which received $68,533 in EFA grant money.
The schools’ receipts range from Portsmouth’s $542,534 to Dublin School’s $244, not to be confused with Dublin Christian Academy which is sixth on the list at $401,651.
For the 2023-2024 school year, Concord Christian Academy received the greatest amount of tuition money at $541,720, while during the 2022-2023 school year, Laconia Christian Academy topped the list at $372,496, and in the first year of the program Trinity Christian School of Concord received the highest tuition money at $251,300.
For the first year of the program tuition payments totaled $3,162,509 or 58.8 percent of all grants, while the next year the total was $6,571,083 or 63.1 percent.
The third year of the program, tuition payments grew to $9,950,947 or 57.6 percent of grants, and last year tuition totaled $11,501,321 or 56.9 percent.
The tuition payments are likely to double for this school year increasing the percentage as the earnings limit was removed so that any parent of a child eligible to attend public school in New Hampshire qualifies, although there is a 10,000 cap on enrollment with several exemptions that brings the current total to 10,510.
Since the beginning of the EFA program, Concord Christian Academy has received $1.586 million dollars; Portsmouth Christian Academy, $1.512 million; Trinity Christian School Concord, $1.4 million; Laconia Christian Academy, $1.351 million; Mount Royal Academy, $1.263 million; Trinity High School, $1.154 million, and Dublin Christian Academy, $1.067 million.
St Joseph’s Regional School in Keene received just below the $1 million mark at $938,879.
High Mowing School, the highest non-religious school, received $778,581 over the four-year period.
No wonder many of the ecumenical schools have expansion programs to enlarge their facilities.
Private religious schools are not the only ones to benefit from the EFA grant money.
Driver’s education classes were once part of the high school curriculum, but have not been in New Hampshire for some time although those under 18 are still required to take a certified course.
Today families have to pay a private instructor for their child to take driver education classes.
But there are no restrictions on using EFA grants for the classes in fact there are a number of driving education schools receiving money including The Capitol Driving Academy which received $14,571, 603 Driving School received $8,607 and Coos Driving School $7,000 along with numerous other driving instructors.
The state has a Driving Education Scholarship Fund to help low-income kids pay for driving school. However a notice on the program’s website says the organization is still accepting applications, but “financial awards are currently on hold while the fund seeks additional financial resources.”
Summer camps were also recipients of EFA funds last year.
Camp Brookside and Deer Run received $43,681, a Christian camp and conference center.
Other Christian camps received about $20,000 each including Camp Bernadette and Fatima, Camp Firewood, Camp Sentinel and Camp Berea.
Public school students do not have the opportunity to attend summer camp with public money.
Another recipient of EFA funds was Gunstock Area Commission which received $62,738 as well as Highland Mountain Bike Park, $14,571, Pat’s Peak Ski Area, $4,246, and Waterville Valley Ski Area, owned by the Sununus, $237.
The Association of Pickleball Players received EFA funds totaling $1,510.
And EFA money was used to pay for Little League participation in Rochester and food from the Kearsarge Food Hub in Warner as well as to join the Boys Scouts of America and the Girls Scouts of America.
Other EFA funds were used for entrance fees to the Naples Zoo, $122; Colonial Williamsburg, $181; the Kennedy Space Center, $23; York Wild Animal Kingdom, $11.50, and Camden Hills State Park, $13.
And EFA money was used to purchase curriculum programs from the Libertas Institute, a Libertarian think tank in Lehi, Utah, focusing on free market policies, private property rights, and civil liberties issues, including police reform, according to Wikipedia.
EFA funds of $385 for the institute appear on the expenditure list.
What would happen if a George Soros-funded think tank provided curriculum through the program?
My Father’s World, is a non-denominational Christian curriculum program, not specifically Mormon, with a biblical foundation that integrates faith into all subjects, according to an AI search.
The EFA funds paid for $13,055 worth of programs for homeschool students.
From top to bottom, that is a lot of state tax money going to religious entities from schools to summer camps, although the New Hampshire constitution forbids the use of public money or property for religious purposes.
The US Supreme Court rulings allowing public money to flow to religious schools concerned the Blaine amendment New Hampshire and many other states have in their constitutions, not the other constitutional provision.
And while the program is likely to nearly double this year, a look at the last four years shows a lot of money was left unspent by parents for their children.
For the last school year, $30.4 million was distributed by the state, but at the end of the school year, $10.1 million had not been spent; for the 2023-2024 school, $23.8 million was distributed, while $6.55 million was not spent; 2022-2023 school year, $15.22 million distributed, $4.81 million not spent; and 2021-2022 school year, $8.04 million distributed, $2.65 million not spent.
That is money that has to be returned to the state by statute and not held by ClassWallet, the organization that distributes the money. The returned money is to be used for future EFA funding, but the law allows families to roll over money from year-to-year until a student graduates or leaves the program.
With that kind of money left on the table, maybe the state ought to claw it back every year to prime the pump for the next year.
That would be fiscally responsible, so it probably won’t happen.
Distant Dome by veteran journalist Garry Rayno explores a broader perspective on the State House and state happenings for InDepthNH.org. Over his three-decade career, Rayno covered the NH State House for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Foster’s Daily Democrat. During his career, his coverage spanned the news spectrum, from local planning, school and select boards, to national issues such as electric industry deregulation and Presidential primaries. Rayno lives with his wife Carolyn in New London.
Garry Rayno may be reached at garry.rayno@yahoo.com.