New Hampshire, Indiana embrace universal school choice, bringing number of states to 17 

Lawmakers in New Hampshire and Indiana have advanced universal school choice, making them the latest states to embrace educational freedom.

The New Hampshire House passed SB 295 to expand education freedom accounts by a 188-176 vote Thursday mostly along party lines. It had already passed the Senate, sending it to Gov. Kelly Ayotte, a Republican and school choice supporter who is expected to sign it.

The measure removes income caps, meaning there is universal eligibility, although it institutes a 10,000-student limit that can increase over time.

The Granite State has several school choice programs that serve a portion of the state’s population but could see a wide expansion thanks to the new bill.

This also establishes a beachhead for school choice in the Democrat-dominated Northeastern states. Before New Hampshire’s vote, the closest states to offer broad educational freedom were Ohio and West Virginia. 

Nearby Pennsylvania also is considering two school choice proposals – one for low- and middle-income students in failing schools and another that would establish broad school choice. Those measures will be hotly debated before the state’s June 30 budget deadline. 

But states such as New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey have been among the most resistant to school choice, especially when it involves parents choosing private schools. 

In Indiana, Republican Gov. Mike Braun signed a two-year, $44 billion budget this week that lifts all remaining income restrictions on that state’s school choice program, making it fully universal. 

Braun and the Republican-led Legislature worked through a tough budget year that included a planned $2.4 billion loss of revenue over the next two years. Still, they cut things such as state funding for public radio and television to ensure the popular school choice program could expand. 

The cuts, which equaled $7.35 million, mirror Republican efforts to eliminate federal support for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, in large part because of their liberal bias. President Donald Trump signed an executive order this month ordering the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and all federal agencies to stop funding them. 

Others argue the public stations are unnecessary in today’s environment of podcasts, social media and new media channels and voices. 

So far this year, Tennessee, Idaho, Wyoming and Texas have enacted broad school choice programs, with Texas approving the largest at $1 billion in its first year. Most programs are set to increase over the next few years, building toward universal availability. 

More than half of U.S. students now have access to school choice, and more than 1.2 million currently participate in it. Thirty-six states have some type of school choice program.