Key Facts About NH Education Funding

Total state adequacy aid has grown from approximately $452 million in FY2004 to over $715 million in FY2026 - a 58%+ increase. This growth has happened even as enrollment has declined, meaning more dollars per student.

The base cost of an adequate education per pupil has risen from $3,390 in FY2004 to $4,266 in FY2026 - a 26% increase.

On top of base adequacy, the state now provides additional differentiated aid for:

• Free & Reduced Lunch pupils: $2,393/pupil (FY2026)
• Special Education students: $2,185/pupil (FY2026)
• English Language Learners: $832/pupil (FY2026)

These differentiated aids did not exist before FY2009. They were created to direct more resources to communities that need them most.

Since 2004, the legislature has added entirely new categories of education funding that didn't exist before:

NH public school enrollment has declined from approximately 200,000 students (FY2006) to around 152,000 (FY2026) - a 24% decrease. Yet total state education funding has increased 58%+ during the same period.

This means per-pupil state aid has grown even faster than total funding, roughly doubling from about $2,400 per student to $4,700 per student.

The Statewide Education Property Tax (SWEPT) is a state property tax that funds a portion of education costs. It is collected locally but counts toward each town's education funding obligation.

In addition to SWEPT, the state provides adequacy grants to cover the difference between the total cost of adequate education and what SWEPT raises locally. For communities where SWEPT raises more than the cost of adequacy, those funds stay local.