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Board to study open-enrollment legislation; authorizes communications committee to explore school-funding partnership
Summary
The Contoocook Valley Communications Committee told the board it will study proposed New Hampshire open-enrollment legislation and received authorization to engage the New Hampshire School Funding Fairness Project; the board also asked the policy committee to review district out-of-district tuition conditions.
The Contoocook Valley School District’s Communications Committee told the board it will study proposed New Hampshire open-enrollment legislation and the possible local effects, and the board authorized the committee to engage the New Hampshire School Funding Fairness Project to examine how the district’s nine towns are affected by the state funding system.
“First up, there are multiple pieces of legislation proposed in Concord regarding open enrollment,” said Curtis Hamilton of the Communications Committee. “This would allow any student in New Hampshire to attend any public school within the state pending availability. The sending district would be paying the bulk of the tuition. There's potential for this legislation to have a meaningful impact on our district both in terms of administrative and budgetary planning.” Hamilton said the committee will develop a detailed understanding of the proposals and report back to the board at the next meeting.
Board members discussed district tuition rates for out‑of‑district students during the same discussion. The meeting record shows the board has historically set tuition at roughly 40% of the district’s per‑pupil cost; one figure mentioned in discussion was $10,530, but the transcript does not record a motion adopting that number during this session.
Janine (as recorded in the meeting) summarized the legislative timeline the committee is tracking: the House had completed its work and its bill included an effective date of July 1, 2026; the Senate work and any compromise language could alter that timing or details. “The bill states that it will go into effect July first of 2026,” Janine said. “But the Senate still has to do their budget and whatever they attach, if it's different than the house bill, it will have to come up with some sort of compromise bill. So we're not real sure as of this time exactly when it might go into effect.”
Board members asked staff to clarify the district’s existing policy for admitting tuition students (policy JFAB was cited during discussion and references RSA 193:3) and voted to return the tuition‑rate question to the policy committee for review, with the aim of considering a recommendation at the board’s first meeting in May.
The motion to authorize the Communications Committee to engage the New Hampshire School Funding Fairness Project was made from the floor and recorded as brought forward; the transcript indicates board consent to proceed. Details about any contract, scope of work, or cost for engaging the external project were not provided in the excerpt.
The discussion included multiple board members and district staff; several asked that the policy committee draft clear written conditions for how out‑of‑district tuition admissions will be handled (for example, whether seats must be available and how lottery or course-selection issues are managed at the high school).
