State Board sends Epsom open-enrollment hardship case back for full hearing

The State Board of Education voted to remand a contested open-enrollment and manifest-educational-hardship dispute for a full hearing after rejecting a hearing officer's recommendation to stay the case while the state Supreme Court reviews a related Pittsfield matter.

The decision came after parent Merle Dewitt told the board that his child had been allowed to attend Prospect Mountain High School under a manifest educational hardship granted by the Epsom School Board but later flagged for review by the Pembroke School District under an area agreement. "Clear and direct guidance regarding open enrollment is needed from the New Hampshire Board of Education for school districts obligated by an area agreement," Dewitt said during public comment, asking the board not to delay a ruling while the Pittsfield appeal proceeds.

Why it matters: The dispute raises questions about how RSA 195-a and the open-enrollment statute (RSA 194-D) apply when a sending district participates in an area agreement that assigns students to a receiving district. The board's action preserves an administrative path for resolving the local conflict rather than waiting for a court precedent.

At the meeting, Barbara Lohman, an attorney representing the Epsom School District, urged the board to accept the hearing officer's recommendation to pause the case until the Supreme Court issues its decision in the Pittsfield School Board matter. "There's no point in holding a hearing at this point on the issue of whether the open-enrollment statute compels Epsom to pay for this student to attend Prospect Mountain until we know what the Supreme Court is going to decide in the Pittsfield case," Lohman said.

Board members debated whether the hearing officer had made sufficient factual findings at an earlier December 18 proceeding. Some members said they were unwilling to delay a decision for an indeterminate time while the court considers Pittsfield; others favored waiting. After discussion, the board voted to reject the hearing officer's recommendation to stay the case and remanded the matter to the hearing officer for a full fact-finding hearing.

The board's action is procedural: it does not resolve whether Epsom or Pembroke must pay tuition or whether open enrollment applies in this specific fact pattern. Rather, it requires the hearing officer to conduct a full evidentiary hearing and return findings and a recommended disposition for the board to consider.

The parent's filings and argument reference RSA 195-a(4) (area agreements) and RSA 194-D (open enrollment and funding); the hearing officer and parties also cited the final order in the Pittsfield School Board case (issued May 31, 2024) as the legal question now pending before the Supreme Court. The board's remand means the administrative record will be expanded with formal fact-finding before the board issues a merits decision.