An amendment capping charter school enrollment across New Hampshire could force hundreds of Granite State students out of their current schools. The Senate budget would cap enrollment at 850 students, hundreds fewer than are currently enrolled. If the cap stays in the state budget, New hampshire’s eleven charter schools would not be able to accept new students next year and might have to hold a “reverse lottery” to kick current students out of the classroom. Two charter school administrators worry that the cap might force them out of business entirely.

A series published jointly with The Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation. Our third issue includes John Mitchell’s moving essay about how school choice changed his son’s life and the economics of who currently exercises school choice.
Changing Lives by Choosing Schools

The second issue of our series published jointly with the Milton and Rose D. Friendman Foundation includes an essay by Milton Friedman on “The Role of Government in Education” and an explanation of the principles of a well designed program.
Issue 2: Milton Friedman and the principles behind school choice

The Josiah Bartlett Center’s newsletter published jointly with the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation examines the public policy benefits of a well-designed school choice program.

Issue 1: The facts about School Choice

Once again, The Supreme Court is the focus of never ending education funding lawsuits. Bartlett Director Eugene Van Loan’s brief to the Court offers the best explanation of the issue and how the court can resolve it.

Since the founding of the Josiah Bartlett Center ten years ago, we’ve taken a special interest in the relationship between federal and local governments. The recent sweeping overhaul of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act known as “No Child Left Behind (NCLB)” promises major changes at both the state and local levels. Unfortunately, the nature of those changes and the likely costs associated with them are often obscured by the political back and forth that tends to dominate the issue.

In this study, economist Brian Gottlob determines that a means tested school choice certificate program could save the state budget $32 million over eight years. For this study, Mr. Gottlob examined a program like the ones introduced in the legislature the last two years that would cap the total number of vouchers, direct a full voucher to children at the lowest income levels and award partial vouchers on a sliding scale to more moderate income families.

The Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy’s comprehensive analysis demonstrates that a choice program is consistent with court opinions and permissible under the New Hampshire State Constitution. In addition, a discussion of the Blaine Amendment describes their bigoted history.

A study in partnership with the Milton & Rose D. Friedman Foundation to examine the financial impact of a state school choice pilot program. The study shows that the voucher would be less than the avoided variable costs – resulting in a net financial gain for most communities.