Jacqueline Coe

Open enrollment is among the most consequential policy changes New Hampshire could make to its public education system. It touches school budgets, property taxes, special education, staffing, transportation, and local control. A policy with that reach deserves a deliberate, informed process — not the fast-track approach we have seen with HB 751, which was amended onto an unrelated bill, bypassed committee hearings in both chambers, and is advancing toward law while school districts are finalizing budgets they built under existing statute. HB 1280 offers what HB 751 does not: a structured process to hear from the people who will live with the consequences. This commission would bring superintendents, educators, parents, school board members, and the Department of Education to the same table to address the hard questions that remain unanswered — questions about funding mechanisms, capacity, special education cost allocation, and how to ensure equitable access for all students, including those whose families lack the means to transport them across district lines. New Hampshire's unique reliance on local property taxes to fund education makes this work especially critical. What functions in other states may not function here without careful adaptation. Members of the SAU 24 School Board and administration support expanding educational opportunity. We also believe we owe it to our communities to get this right. HB 1280 gives us the tools to do both. We urge the committee to recommend this bill ought to pass.