We asked, you answered: Should New Hampshire schools have open school enrollment?

A version of this story appeared in Granite Post’s newsletter. Subscribe here.

Republicans in the House and Senate want to make every school in New Hampshire open enrollment. That means students could attend any public school in the state, and the town where that student lives would foot the bill.

Dig into the bills here: SB 101 and HB 751.

It could cost towns anywhere from $18,000 to $40,000 per student. School districts set their budgets based on how many students they expect to serve and what those students need. School leaders say this proposal would make budgeting that much harder.

Supporters say this gives families more flexibility. Critics worry about inequities, especially for students who don’t have transportation to schools outside their area.

Curious what this could mean for your community? Use Reaching Higher’s calculator to estimate costs.

This week we asked readers: Should New Hampshire schools have open school enrollment?

Heres what they had to say…

“No! This is further proof that the Republicans are trying to dismantle public education in this state. With our existing tax structure, this would mean death for some towns. NO!” — Janet Schwartz

“No I believe it would cause a burden on the individual towns. If they choose to use other districts they should pay.” — Edward Fleming

“This bill does not address the underlying problem with school funding in local districts. New Hampshire’s long-standing reliance on property taxes to fund education has consistently benefited students in wealthier communities. This bill would only continue that trend, promoting opportunities for families who can afford to transport their children to more affluent districts. It’s also easy to predict that many students would gravitate toward schools with stronger athletic programs. What does this bill do to encourage students to value and contribute to the communities where they live? At best, it misses the mark. Legislators would be far more effective if they focused their time and effort on developing a fair and equitable solution to public education funding in New Hampshire.” — Holly Huxtable Patterson

“Absolutely not. I pay enough in property taxes and I feel strongly that tax money should stay local. If a family wants to do something outside their local school district they can. Just not on local property tax money. At the very lease, private schools are definitely not to be funded by tax money.” — Eileen Copeland

“Absolutely not. We have many towns in NH this year who are drastically under budgetary pressure. They are having to drop programs and increase teacher class loads. I realize that NH’s federal funding has been drastically cut but the towns are already hurting from the cuts in funding and this is definitely not the time for this bill.” — Jackie LeBlanc

“No! We are already paying for enrollment in private schools, which is straining school district budgets. Keep kids in their home school district unless their educational needs can only be met elsewhere (such as special needs that cannot be addressed locally). Keep kids local. If you have concerns about the quality of your child’s education, contact your school board and become an active participant in your child’s education.” — Fran Harriman

“I see two major problems here. First, local school boards understand their own situations best and need to retain some control over how their schools are managed. Second, the ultimate goal should be for all children to receive a quality public school education that prepares them either for further education or to enter the workforce — whichever path suits them best. It seems to me that the most effective way to accomplish this is to ensure that all school districts have the same amount of funding to spend per pupil. That would require shifting funds from wealthier areas to poorer ones. Shuffling individual students back and forth between districts strikes me as stressful, inefficient and costly. At least in the early years, children should attend school with others from their immediate area. The current system of funding and enrollment appears to be a patchwork that has developed over time. In short, the state legislature needs to hammer out a compromise plan that allows each citizen to contribute proportionally to a shared pool that funds each student equally in facilities within their own community. While some aspects of the present system may still work, the entire structure needs to be examined thoughtfully rather than altered through piecemeal fixes.” — JoAnn Carlson

“Absolutely not. Open enrollment has the potential to raise property taxes in sending towns, and my property taxes are already too high. It could also create chaotic scheduling for schools. The solution is for the state to equitably fund our public schools—New Hampshire ranks 50th in the nation for state education funding—and improve all schools equally. If all schools are of equally high quality, the problem is solved. There would be no need for open enrollment.” — Denise Clark

“The straightforward answer is no. The legislative majority is constantly putting forth schemes to remove any semblance of local control from New Hampshire town governments. These efforts often have the parallel objective of shifting the cost of governance onto towns rather than using the state budget to pay for state mandates. “Open Enrollment” is just another one of these schemes, and for this majority, it has the added advantage of disrupting the educational process across the state.” — Mike E.