Nonpartisan group Education Commission of the States briefs New Hampshire lawmakers on K‑12 trends

Joel Moore, the director of state relations at the Education Commission of the States (ECS), and Klaus (Claus) von Zastor, ECS senior director of policy, told the New Hampshire Senate Education Committee on Feb. 1 that ECS tracks legislation and policy across all 50 states and several territories and makes that information available to state policymakers.

The presentation summarized major 2024 trends the group reported nationwide and provided state examples. “My name is Joel Moore. I am the director of state relations with Education Commission of the States,” Moore said at the start of the presentation. The speakers said ECS maintains free 50‑state comparisons on topics including teacher recruitment and retention, state accountability systems, K‑12 funding and school facilities.

The presenters highlighted four crosscutting K‑12 themes they saw in 2024: paid pathways and residency models to recruit teachers; “holistic staffing” that includes teacher working conditions and professional development (notably early‑literacy training); substantial revisions to K‑12 funding formulas in several states; and a surge in state activity on school choice measures. The presenters noted additional attention to postsecondary affordability, early care and education workforce supports, and career-and-technical education (CTE) partnerships with employers.

On teacher pipelines, the presenters said states enacted more than 120 measures in 2024 that expand paid pathways such as grow‑your‑own programs and stipends for student teachers. On funding, they summarized two large state overhauls: Colorado’s phased 6‑year funding formula that significantly increases weights for low‑income students, English learners and special education students (with an estimated first‑year state cost of $92 million and full implementation potentially reaching $570 million), and Mississippi’s immediate overhaul with a new base and heavier weights for several student groups and an estimated annual cost of $220 million.

On school choice, the presenters said more states are expanding eligibility for private school choice programs, including education savings accounts (ESAs) that can become universal or near‑universal; they described policy tools states are using to limit costs (enrollment caps, funding caps, income‑tiered allocations) and cited recent instances of budgetary overrun in some states. On CTE and workforce alignment, presenter Klaus von Zastor described tax‑credit and donation programs to equip CTE centers and provide employer‑time donations and internships.

Moore and von Zastor said ECS will provide the committee with slide materials and can respond to information requests from New Hampshire policymakers. Committee members asked clarifying questions about the 50‑state comparisons, accountability indicators in ESSA plans, and how open‑eligibility choice programs are managed. ECS staff said the organization does not judge policy efficacy in the 50‑state comparisons but documents “what states do.”

The ECS representatives left the committee with a list of resources and offered to follow up with memos on specific state examples if the committee requests them.