NH Education Pathways

There are four education pathways in NH to fulfill the compulsory attendance law, RSA 193:1. It applies to children who are six years old as of September 30th of the current school year to age 18. Kindergarten is optional.

1. public education (local district or charter),
2. private education,
3. home education, or
4. the Education Freedom Account (EFA) program, new as of summer 2021.

One pathway may resemble one of the others, depending on the family. For example, a public school student may have credits from a Learn Everywhere approved provider or participate in an Extended Learning Opportunity (ELO) program, but that does not make the child a homeschooler or an EFA student. Likewise, a private school may allow a student to participate in a program somewhere else such as for dual-enrollment or a program outside their curriculum, but that child is still enrolled in that private school. Many public schools used the Virtual Learning Academy Charter School (VLACS) as their remote option, but that didn't change students' enrollment status. A homeschooled student might take classes at their local public school or VLACS, but that does not make that child a public school or charter school student. For EFA students, they may be enrolled at a private school or the family may direct the child's learning at home, but they are still EFA (contracted) students.

The distinctions are not always clear, and some options give families flexibility within one of the four fundamental pathways, but they are registered as only one of those pathways and that is what determines their standing for compulsory education attendance. This video may also explain the four education pathways to satisfy NH's compulsory attendance requirements.

 

NH Education Pathways

	public education	private education	home education	Education Freedom Accounts (EFA)
subtypes	district and chartered	secular and religious	n/a	approved uses
statute	RSA 193-E	several	RSA 193-A	RSA 194-F
rules	Ed 300	Ed 400	Ed 315	Ed 324
primary funding sources	federal, state, and local	families	families	state
student eligibility	grades K to 12	determined by the governance body	age 6 to 18	grades K to 12 and income thresholds
standards	federal and state	determined by the governance body	families	contract
curriculum	local	determined by the governance body	families	state, managing organization, and contract
academic reporting	state and local	families	families	state and managing organization
notification frequency	annual	annual	one time	annual

 

Home education that is governed by RSA 193-A is often confused and conflated with the Education Freedom Account (EFA) program that is found in RSA 194-F because at-home use may closely resemble the day-to-day learning for the child. However, there are key differences.

Home Education Compared to Education Freedom Account Program

	Home Education	Education Freedom Account (EFA)
governing statute	RSA 193-A	RSA 194-F
state education rules	Ed 315	Ed 324
subtypes	n/a	approved uses from approved vendors
initiation of program	immediately whenever the family chooses	4 to 6 weeks until contract is signed, prorated funding based on registration deadlines
notification frequency	one-time when beginning a program	annually
age range	when the child is 6 years old or older by 9/30 of the current school year to age 18	grades K to 12
eligibility	all NH families	income threshold
records/portfolio	yes, consisting of reading list and work samples, kept a minimum of 2 years	no
annual assessment deadline	when the family chooses, results remain private and property of the family	July 15 of each year, financial penalties for late submissions
assessment submitted to a government authority	no	yes, the managing organization
graduation	self-certified	unknown, not in statute or rules
resources	any the family chooses	approved uses from approved vendors
standards	chosen by the family	determined by contract
primary funding	the family	state
privacy	family can choose not to interact with any government agency	child's information in a state database and given a SASID
participation in Equal Access, RSA 193:1-c	yes	no
withdrawal options	any education pathway in the state	statute specifies public school only
legal support from HSLDA as members	yes	no

 

The NH Department of Education has information about educational pathways on their website. This is the page on home education and this is the page on the Education Freedom Account (EFA).

 

GSHE believes families are fully empowered and capable of making decisions for their own families and determining what is best for their children. We strive to give people facts, not opinions, to help them make informed decisions.