Education Freedom Accounts (EFAs) - September 27, 2024 Windham Independent
Education Freedom Accounts (EFAs)
I want to acknowledge the authors of the Sep. 06 anti-EFA letter to the editor, but I cannot - they are so proud of their work that they did not sign their names on it. And it’s not because education was spelled “edcation”, or because their letter is a barely readable wall of text…
It’s because an individual signing a letter shows a commitment to accountability, while having a committee sign a letter shows the opposite. The WinDems have been doing this to allow Democratic candidates to speak out of both sides of their mouths by owning up to the letter with voters who like it, while disowning it with voters who don’t.
I write my own letters, sign them, publish my phone number and tell everyone I talk to the same thing. Letters signed by “A group of concerned citizens” to avoid personal accountability are not my cup of tea.
The Education Trust Fund was created to pay for educational expenses. Using the word “diverted” when those funds are used to pay for EFAs is highly improper.
EFAs are grants restricted to educational expenses for families earning up to 350% of the poverty line whose children are eligible to enroll in a public elementary or secondary school but don’t. For more information, visit https://www.education.nh.gov/pathways-education/education-freedom-accounts.
Article 83 of the NH Constitution: “it shall be the duty of the legislators and magistrates, in all future periods of this government, to cherish the interest of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries and public schools, to encourage private and public institutions…”.
Our constitution does not favor public schools over private schools - it requires the legislature to cherish education and provide an adequate education to all our residents, as long as the money is not sent by the state to a religious school. EFAs meet all constitutional requirements.
Constitutional rights are not different based on someone’s income. Saying that someone is too poor or too rich to have equal rights is not just absurd - it reeks of the class war mentality prevalent in communist Romania, a toxic mindset all of us should reject.
Our public schools were a big reason my family moved to Windham, and I am proud of my contributions to improving them during my School Board service. We are happy that our kids were educated in Windham public schools, but that does not mean that our choices are right for every family in Windham.
A former neighboring family had 4 school age kids, which they sent to a private school outside Windham. Since our school district was spending $18,000 a year to educate a child (currently around $22,000), just this one family left $72,000 of education services on the table EVERY YEAR. They were likely ineligible for the EFA program, but why should they not have received a fraction of those funds to help pay their educational expenses? They paid property taxes (about 80% of which are going towards the school district), and got no education in return - how was that fair?
The state is constitutionally obligated to provide an adequate education to every child - forcing parents to either send their kids to a school that does not best serve their child or get nothing is morally wrong.
Which brings me to the other major reason why EFAs are needed- they are an essential part of parents’ rights. Parents who are happy with the education provided by our public schools can continue choosing their public schools. Parents that feel otherwise can still get a limited amount of support from the state to help them educate their children.
The NH Department of Education reports that the EFA Program Cumulative Taxpayer Savings were $156,473,991 by the end of the 2023-2024 school year. The EFAs total statewide cost is increasing because more kids are enrolled in it, while last term’s budget added 193 millions in NEW state funding for public schools, despite ongoing reductions in our total state enrollment.
Giving parents a choice in how to best educate their children while saving money in the process is the kind of policy that we should all support.
On the link above, please click on the Education Freedom Account Grant Information link, to find the Windham line in the “EFA by residence of student” reports.
During the last school year, Windham had 10.6 kids on EFAs, receiving a total of $48,060. This school year, they estimate Windham will have 16 kids on EFAs, receiving a total of $87,414 (which would barely cover educating 4 students in Windham schools. 4, not 16).
Does this ridiculous pretense that tens of thousands in EFA funds are the reason your property taxes are higher instead of the millions of dollars in annual school budget increases approved by the voters every March make any sense to you? Windham property taxes are high because the School District budget increases faster than inflation, while enrollment is basically flat.
I am looking forward to hearing from you at (603) 267 4142 (text or call) or by email at dpmwindham@gmail.com (please text or call me after you send an email to tell me to look for it so I don’t miss it).
Daniel Popovici-Muller
Clerk, Finance II House Committee,
2025-2026 Republican State Representative Candidate