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Charter school office highlights growth, wait lists and oversight gains in 1,400+ page report
Summary
State staff told the board charter schools in New Hampshire grew to 36 open schools and about 6,322 students (a roughly 5% annual increase), reported roughly 1,200 students on wait lists, and improved audit compliance; staff also attributed recent closures largely to financial pressures and called for support for sustainability and replication planning.
State Department of Education staff presented an annual charter schools report on Jan. 8 that summarized performance, financial oversight and federal grant activity for New Hampshire'charter public schools.
Tal (charter office) and colleague Casey Silva told the State Board that 36 charter schools were open as of fall 2025, with systemwide enrollment of about 6,322 students and annual enrollment growth around 5%. Staff said closures since 2020 totaled six and cited finances, leadership changes and post'pandemic challenges as leading causes. The office reported that many charter schools (self'reported) had wait lists; collectively staff said the total was roughly 1,200 students on wait lists as of the August data collection.
The presentation highlighted financial and program compliance improvements: all required annual financial audits were submitted for the most recent year, and the office reported reduced audit findings compared with the prior year. Staff also reviewed federal charter program (CSP) grant activity, saying the office had distributed start'up, expansion and replication grants from a $46,000,000 federal award and remained in compliance with federal spending rules.
Board members probed details about the wait'list currency (how many families were still seeking placement), differences in reported average per'pupil costs, and the sustainability of smaller schools. Staff said wait'list numbers were collected in August and may have shifted by school opening; they offered to disaggregate wait lists by grade and to provide more up'to'date snapshots. Staff flagged a small number of schools with unique financing or tuition arrangements that inflate average per'pupil figures and said they would verify anomalous outlier data before final publication.
Staff also described compliance tools used to select schools for audit and reported that, because of improved oversight and technical assistance, some recent closures were identified early and resolved or remediated before becoming long'running audit issues.
The board did not take regulatory action on the report but praised the department'charter office for improved reporting and recommended continued attention to sustainability supports for new and small schools.
