House committee hears debate on differentiating special-education funding tiers

Representative Rick Ladd opened a public hearing on HB 563, a bill to change how New Hampshire’s adequacy formula funds pupils receiving special-education services. The bill would set a higher base adequacy component and create three differentiated categories tied to the proportion of time a student spends in general education versus more restrictive settings.

Ladd said the bill starts with a base cost per pupil that reflects recent budget projections and then layers differentiated aid for free-and-reduced-price-meal status, English-language learners and the three special-education categories. He described the categories as mirroring IDEA reporting: category A (students in general education 80% or more of the day), category B (less time in general education), and category C (students placed homebound, in hospital settings or…