Victory: New Hampshire’s Education Freedom Account Program Survives Challenge, Plaintiff Appeal Deadline Passes

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 12/15/2023 

CONTACT:  Phillip Suderman, [email protected] (850) 376-4110 

ARLINGTON, VA.— New Hampshire’s Education Freedom Account Program, which provides financial support for families choosing the best educational options for their children, will continue making better futures possible. Last month, the Merrimack Superior Court ruled against an ill-conceived constitutional challenge brought by the head of the state teachers’ union seeking to undermine educational choice. Yesterday, the deadline for appealing that ruling passed, leaving the lower court ruling in place and ensuring the program will not be challenged at the New Hampshire Supreme Court.

In June 2021, New Hampshire enacted the EFA Program, providing Granite State families with educational choice beginning in the 2021-22 school year. The program has been popular, with more than 3,000 students enrolled.

However, the head of the American Federation of Teachers in New Hampshire filed a lawsuit against the program alleging that it violated restrictions on education funding in the state constitution and state law. With the deadline for the appeal passed, New Hampshire parents can breathe a sigh of relief.

“The EFA Program has been a help to my daughters, giving them the opportunity to attend a school that provides for their unique needs,” said Amy Shaw, one of the parents who intervened in the lawsuit. “I’m so happy that this has finally come to an end and the program will be allowed to continue to support educational options that work for my kids and for so many other families across the state.”

“We are glad to see this lawsuit has reached its appropriate ending, with the families of New Hampshire being the victors,” said IJ Educational Choice Attorney David Hodges. “The EFA Program will help people like Amy and the thousands of other parents who want more educational options for their children.”

IJ is the nation’s leading defender of educational choice programs, having won multiple cases at the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2022, IJ successfully challenged Maine’s exclusion of religious schools from the state’s tuition program in the landmark case Carson v. Makin. In 2020, IJ challenged the New Hampshire tuitioning program’s restrictions on parents choosing religious schools. The lawsuit resulted in the General Court eliminating the unconstitutional restrictions last year. And in 2014, IJ successfully defended New Hampshire’s tax credit scholarship program at the state supreme court.

#  #  #

To arrange interviews on this subject, journalists may contact Phillip Suderman, IJ’s Communications Project Manager at [email protected] (850) 376-4110. More information on the case is available at: https://ij.org/case/new-hampshire-school-choice-ii/