New Hampshire Christian schools booming amid ESA growth, national school choice trend

Christian schools in New Hampshire are growing at an exceptional pace, thanks in part to the state’s school choice program.

An analysis by the Concord Monitor found 11 of the state’s 28 Christian schools either opened or grew by at least 50% in the four years since New Hampshire launched Education Freedom Accounts (EFAs). The education savings accounts, or ESAs, allow parents to direct public funds toward their child’s education, including private school tuition.

Eighteen states have ESA programs, and nine of them – including a newly approved program in Texas – are considered broad or universal, meaning they are open regardless of income or other eligibility requirements.

Granite State lawmakers approved legislation this year to lift income limits for New Hampshire’s EFAs, although a 10,000-student cap would remain, subject to future increases. The measure is awaiting approval from Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte, who has voiced support for school choice.

Independent Christian school enrollment in New Hampshire has increased 30% to roughly 2,900 students, representing about one-fifth of the state’s private school population, the Monitor reported. During the same four-year period, enrollment at other private schools rose just 5%. 

Laconia Christian Academy is among the schools seeing rapid growth, with enrollment surging 44% since 2020. More than half of its students use ESA funds, which provide an average of $5,200 per student. The school was the state’s top recipient of ESA funds last year, receiving $372,000, the Monitor reported. 

Head of School Rick Duba, who relocated his office to a former storage room to accommodate staff, expects the school’s growth to continue. Laconia Christian has launched a $500,000 capital campaign to build additional classrooms and meeting space. 

The ESAs have empowered many lower-income families to access Christian education, according to Duba and other Christian school leaders. 

“We just happen to be in an environment, and in an economic part of the state, where the demographic is such that EFAs have a huge impact on our growth,” Duba said. 

At a maximum tuition of $13,200 for high school – well below the state’s public school per-pupil average of $21,500 and independent prep schools, which can charge $40,000 or more – Laconia Christian is relatively affordable. 

Christian elementary schools in the state charge as little as $7,000, meaning ESA funds can cover the bulk of tuition. In 2022–23, nearly 90% of all ESA or voucher dollars spent on tuition went to religiously affiliated schools, the Monitor reported. 

School choice has benefited Christian schools nationwide, with similar expansions reported in other states. While growth is not limited to states with ESA programs, the presence of school choice significantly contributes to enrollment increases. 

Christian schooling has seen a marked increase since the COVID-19 pandemic. Many religious schools remained open or reopened more quickly than public schools and have become known for upholding traditional values and avoiding progressive education agendas, such as discriminatory diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. 

“I think that religious schools are probably seen as a wall – a bastion – against some of these current issues that tend to be very divisive,” Mike Kingsley, a leader at Trinity Christian School in Concord, told the Monitor. “And so the families that are saying, ‘We want our students in a conservative place where they’re going to be taught traditional values,’ see a religious school as being that.” 

The public school exodus has coincided with an expansion of school choice programs, including New Hampshire’s, which launched in 2021. 

Nationally, more than 1.2 million students currently participate in school choice programs across 35 states – double the number from 2020. That figure is expected to grow as new programs launch in Texas, Alabama, Tennessee and elsewhere. 

With the increase in school choice and growing resistance to the far-left agenda, Christian schools appear likely to continue their upward trajectory for the foreseeable future.