Democrats have made school choice their newest “downshifting” talking point, claiming Education Freedom Accounts drain public schools and push up your property taxes. This is the complete, sourced answer: how the money works, what it costs, who uses it, how it’s audited, and why it cannot touch your property-tax bill.
Every New Hampshire child comes with a state “adequacy” grant, the money the state sets aside for that child’s education. An Education Freedom Account simply lets a family direct that grant toward the option that fits their child instead of a single assigned district school.
The grant starts with a base of about $4,266 per pupil. On top of that, students get “differentiated aid” for greater needs: roughly $2,393 more for a student who qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, added funding for special education, about $832 for English language learners, and more for a third grader who is not yet reading at grade level.8 With those add-ons, the average EFA grant works out to about $5,255.2
The grant is paid out of the state Education Trust Fund. That fund is filled by business taxes, the statewide education property tax, the tobacco tax, the real estate transfer tax, and the lottery.6 It is state money, collected at the state level. Your town’s local school tax is a separate pot, set by your local budget, and none of it flows into an EFA.
EFA funds are restricted to approved educational costs: private-school tuition, tutoring tied to core academic subjects, curriculum and books, a computer and internet used for school, special-education therapies, testing, approved online and summer programs, career and technical courses, even individual classes bought back from the local public school.9 The money arrives in quarterly installments (20% in September, 20% in November, 30% in January, 30% in April), and it is paid directly to providers or reimbursed against receipts. Cash and gift cards are not allowed, handwritten receipts are rejected, and the administrator reviews purchases to confirm they qualify.9
Here is the part the downshifting crowd skips. Your property-tax rate is set by two local votes: your town budget and your school-district budget. The EFA grant never enters either one. It comes from the state, and it goes to the family. A family that uses an EFA still lives in town and still pays every dollar of their local school taxes, so the local money that actually sets your rate does not move.
If you want to know what really drives your school taxes, look at the size of the bill. New Hampshire spends around $20,000 per public-school student, and the state’s base grant covers only about $4,000 to $5,000 of it. The rest is local, decided at your school-district meeting. The entire EFA program is about a penny of every education dollar. It is not what is moving your number.
“EFAs raise your property taxes.”
The grant is state money from the Education Trust Fund. It does not come from your local property taxes, and your local rate is set by your town and school-district budgets. An EFA cannot add a dollar to your bill.6
“They drain money from public schools.”
96.7% of EFA users were already in private or home school. They did not leave a public school for anyone to lose funding over. And state aid to public schools went up $169.1 million.1
“It’s a handout to the wealthy.”
“It’ll cost a billion dollars.”
“There’s no accountability.”
“It only helps kids who already left public school, so it’s just new spending.”
The program launched in 2021 and has grown every year, reaching 10,510 students in 2025-26, up from 5,765 the year before.1 The large majority, 96.7%, were already learning in a private or home setting before they signed up.1 It began with an income cap and prioritized working families, and it still puts lower-income families, students with disabilities, siblings, and existing participants first when applications run high.1 With the 2025 expansion, New Hampshire became the 18th state to offer families a universal choice option.
“No accountability” is the fallback line when the tax argument falls apart. It isn’t true. The program administrator, the Children’s Scholarship Fund of New Hampshire, earned a clean, unqualified opinion from independent auditor Grant Thornton, the highest grade an outside auditor can give.10 EFA money can only go to approved educational expenses. No cash. No gift cards. Handwritten receipts get rejected, and every purchase is reviewed before it’s paid.9
It is one of the most closely watched line items in the entire state budget, audited and capped every year, and Republicans keep adding checks on top, including annual audits and cross-checks against public-school rolls.5 Four years and tens of thousands of purchases in, the people who keep promising a scandal still haven’t produced one. What they’ve got is a program that spends a penny on the dollar, serves ten thousand kids, and passes its audits. So watch what their bills actually do: they don’t tighten EFAs, they abolish them.
When Democrats say they only want “accountability,” look at their votes. Senator Jay Kahn’s bill to repeal the program outright, SB 432, was killed on a party-line vote.12 During the 2025 expansion, Democratic floor amendments to cap the program and re-impose income tests failed along party lines, and not a single House Democrat supported letting more families in.13 Their position is not a tune-up. It is to take these grants away from the roughly ten thousand families now using them.
Democrats say GOP business-tax cuts raise your property taxes. Businesses actually fund a bigger share of the state than ever.
Get the facts →The biggest cost-shift in NH history began in the 2009 budget, under full Democratic control.
See the receipts →“Downshifting” is the setup. A broad-based income tax is the pitch.
Read more →Property taxes and school choice will be front and center this election. We’ll send you the numbers and the rebuttals.