This bill establishes a comprehensive open enrollment policy for public schools in New Hampshire, requiring each school district's governing body to create a framework that allows students to transfer between schools within the district and from other districts statewide. Key provisions include the publication of school capacity for accepting open enrollment students, a lottery system for selection when applications exceed capacity, and a new funding formula for the Department of Education to allocate payments from the education trust fund for these pupils. The existing law, RSA 194-D, is repealed and reenacted to incorporate these changes, which include definitions of terms such as "capacity," "open enrollment pupil," and "receiving district," as well as criteria for application denial based on expulsion history and capacity limits.

Additionally, the bill prohibits discrimination based on special education needs and allows for preferences in the lottery for siblings of current students and children of school employees. It clarifies that neither the resident nor receiving school district is required to provide transportation for open enrollment pupils and ensures that no tuition is charged for these students. The bill also specifies that districts receiving open enrollment pupils from a resident district with an existing tuition agreement will not receive open enrollment aid, while the resident district continues to receive adequacy aid. The state board of education is tasked with adopting rules for public school enrollment and studying the effectiveness of open enrollment policies, with the bill set to take effect on July 1, 2027.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 193:12, 194-D:1, 194-D:2, 194-D:5, 194-D:7
As Amended by the Senate: 193:12, 194-D:1, 194-D:2, 194-D:5, 194-D:7, 189-B:2, 189-B:4
As Amended by the Senate (2nd): 193:12, 194-D:1, 194-D:2, 194-D:5, 194-D:7, 189-B:2, 189-B:4
As Amended by the House: 198:39