Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Welcome to the first edition of the NH Education News Digest, a monthly newsletter dedicated to education in the Granite State. Reaching Higher and the New Hampshire Alliance for College and Career Readiness are excited to offer this collection of original and curated content highlighting key themes across the education landscape each month. In it you’ll find important policy updates and analysis, original storytelling, news and commentary, previews of upcoming events, suggestions for further reading, and more.
In our top story this month, we’re starting to see the real impact of the statewide school voucher program signed into law last legislative session. At the same time, many questions remain unanswered. At the first meeting of the Education Freedom Account Oversight Committee on Tuesday, November 9, the NH Department of Education released current enrollment data into the program, which began enrolling students at the beginning of the 2021 school year: So far 1,635 students have enrolled, at a cost of approximately $8.1 million to the state. According to the data provided by the DOE, the overwhelming majority of the enrolled students were already enrolled in nonpublic options like private school or homeschooling.
Many open questions remain unanswered in the report, including how many students approved for an EFA will also receive scholarship money through the previously established NH Education Tax Credit Program.
Along with the cost to the state, the program will result in funding losses for public schools. The state will provide three-year “phase-out grants” to local public school districts losing students to school vouchers, but districts are still set to lose $477K in adequacy aid in 2023.
Along with the impact of last year’s legislative session, the impact of the pandemic continues to come into sharp focus this fall. The challenges are real, but educators are responding in innovative and inspiring ways. Read on to learn about a budding educator support network, a teacher who pioneered virtual classrooms, and a red-hot career pathway.
Thanks for reading about, reflecting on, and supporting education,
The Reaching Higher NH team
Spotlight on Career Pathways
Addison Kady wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with his life, but he knew he didn’t want to sit at a desk all day. After trying an introductory welding class at the Portsmouth Career and Technical Center, he never looked back. Last spring, he won $3,000 in scholarship money for community college through a new welding competition organized to spark interest in welding as a career.
The competition is part of a strong push toward personalized pathways in education, a concept embraced by educators, industry leaders, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. A bipartisan omnibus bill passed by NH legislators during the last session targets several key components of strong college and career pathways, including funding for career and technical education centers and changes to dual and concurrent enrollment programs.
Recognizing the importance of college and career pathways, Reaching Higher and the New Hampshire Alliance for College and Career Readiness have made them a key focus of our own work in recent months as well. Read our latest research here.
Last month, we visited NHTI and Manchester Community College to learn about the newest developments in their career pathways work.
Pandemic lessons have staying power
If you had to pick a metaphor to describe the 2021-22 school year so far, it might be hats. Educators these days are wearing a lot of them. The stress and burnout are real, but so is the strong support system they’ve developed.
“The professional community has become so much stronger than I think it ever was,” said Bridey Bellemare, Executive Director of the New Hampshire Association of School Principals. “Conversations used to be mostly siloed in districts. Now those silos have been broken down and we’re having these deep, rich conversations about how to support educators, how to support families.”
The pandemic revealed in stark terms the critical role schools play in supporting families. Many of the changes it compelled are still in place even as schools return to full-time, in-person learning. One key theme is meeting students where they are.
Even before the pandemic, New Hampshire’s 2022 Teacher of the Year, was always looking for ways to align learning with individual student needs. A language arts teacher and technology integrator at Barnard School in South Hampton, Sara Casassa created a virtual classroom for a student who was out of school for several weeks due to illness. That classroom became the prototype for virtual learning during the pandemic.
Schools are also striving to meet families where they are. After learning that many families in the Manchester School District were struggling to find translation services, the district responded by compiling and distributing handbooks translated into nine languages, with information about its English Learner programs as well as community services such as after-school programs and food-support services.
Food insecurity remains a concern for New Hampshire families around the state. Schools are filling the gap by once again offering universal free lunches, thanks to the extension of a federal waiver to the Free and Reduced-Price Lunch program application. After the waiver created budgeting challenges last year, school leaders are employing a variety of tactics to ensure families complete school lunch paperwork.
Another pandemic-era practice with staying power: the outdoor classroom. At James Faulkner Elementary School in Stoddard, open air learning has become the norm.
“As [the outdoor classrooms] kept developing throughout the year, I think … everybody started realizing the benefits of being outside. It wasn’t just about COVID anymore,” said Principal Allison Peterson. “… We were still covering the same curriculum, we just changed our location.”
Enrollment trends create challenges
New Hampshire’s student population has been steadily declining since its peak in the early 2000s, according to data released by the New Hampshire Department of Education in November. Experts attribute the decline to a number of factors, including demographic changes and a recent drop in enrollment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, state projections suggest that the number of children in the state will remain steady through 2040. Along with declining enrollment, lawmakers and school and community leaders will need to consider changing student needs in their short- and long-term planning.
Despite dips in enrollment, public schools continue to serve the vast majority of students and remain cornerstones of community around the state. Residents of two towns in the Merrimack Valley School District spoke passionately about the importance of keeping their elementary schools open in spite of shrinking numbers at listening sessions last month. Changing demographics — along with the effects of school vouchers and other legislation passed last session — are likely to necessitate more such conversations around the state.
Charter schools are also feeling the pinch. Administrators of Cocheco Academy for the Arts in Dover told the State Board of Education last month that the school plans to close at the end of the year due to pandemic-related enrollment woes. Two other charter schools, including PACE Academy, the only district-sanctioned charter school, closed in 2021. Attendance at charter schools has decreased by 6% this year, according to figures presented to the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee in October.
Higher Education institutions are also grappling with that state’s changing demographics and pandemic-era realities. Colleges are employing a variety of strategies, including tuition freezes and additional student aid to combat the effects of the pandemic on enrollment and family finances.
Policy Notebook
The House Education Committee wrapped up its executive session on retained bills last month. HB 214, which ensures that at least $50 million in grants is awarded to school building aid projects annually, was amended to create an assessment that will prioritize building aid projects around the state. The amended bill was recommended for approval by a 20-0 vote. Committee Chairman Rick Ladd shared research showing a link between school facilities and student achievement.
Lawmakers continue researching new methods for measuring poverty in public schools in an effort to more accurately calculate targeted aid. On Dec. 1, the House Finance Division II Study Committee with House Education reviewed tables comparing town-by-town Free and Reduced-Price Lunch data — the current metric for determining targeted aid — with Medicaid data. Additional research and fine tuning are needed, but the committee agreed that Medicaid, which has a much higher enrollment rate than FRPL, appears to offer a promising metric. Committee Chair Karen Umberger (R-Kearsarge) asked representatives from Health and Human Services to look into joining a pilot project that allows for data sharing between Medicaid departments and schools.
“Obviously that is a significant number of people … as well as a significant number of dollars that should be out there in the schools,” Umberger said.
With COVID relief money, schools across the U.S. take on a bigger role in student mental health
Chalkbeat, Carolyn Thompson, Heather Hollingsworth, and Kalyn Belsha, November 11, 2021
COLUMN: Surrounded by pandemic angst, what do middle schoolers want? A welcoming, safe place to learn
Hechinger Report, Liz Willen, November 16, 2021
How Schools Can Use Federal COVID Aid to Solve Bus Driver and Transportation Woes
Education Week, Andrew Ujifusa, November 16, 2021
High Schoolers to Decide How to Spend $1.5 Million in COVID Funding
Associated Press, November 11, 2021
Thanks for reading to the end of our monthly newsletter. To offer feedback, just reply to this email. We love to hear from readers.
Looking for more ways to stay informed and get involved with education in the state? Join the New Hampshire Education Network here.
Finally, please consider including Reaching Higher in your end-of-year giving plans. All donations are tax deductible and go directly to our work ensuring every child in the state has access to a high-quality public education.
You must be logged in to post a comment.