Hampton Falls Democrats

06/04/2026

Celebrate this one!

GOOD NEWS! The Senate just tabled HB 751, the final legislative proposal to mandate statewide open enrollment. Thanks to everyone who has taken action this session to make this happen!

As we’ve said throughout this session—statewide mandatory open enrollment was not ready for prime time and would have irrevocably harmed the delivery of public education in New Hampshire.

Students succeed when their schools are adequately staffed, properly funded, and able to provide consistent academic, social, and emotional support. The open enrollment proposals considered this session failed to answer critical questions about how districts would maintain class sizes, transportation, special education services, extracurricular opportunities, and student support systems if enrollment and funding shifted unpredictably from year to year. For many students, especially those in rural communities or districts already facing resource challenges, that uncertainty could have meant fewer opportunities and less individualized support.

New Hampshire educators remain committed to working with lawmakers across the political spectrum to advance student-centered solutions that expand opportunity responsibly while protecting educational quality and stability for all students.

06/04/2026

🍎🍎🍎HB 751: Open Enrollment Returns in a New Form



Earlier this spring, a broader universal open enrollment proposal failed to gain enough support in the Legislature after massive statewide opposition from over 600 school board members and Superintendents. But a revised version emerged from Committee of Conference last week.



The latest proposal would require districts with open enrollment policies to allow at least 10% outgoing enrollment, overriding decisions recently made by many local districts. According to Reaching Higher NH, more than 90 districts that adopted open enrollment policies this spring voted to limit outgoing enrollment to zero.



This spring, many communities voted to limit outgoing enrollment specifically because they were concerned about the financial risk created by town-to-town tuition payments. Under HB 751, those local decisions could be overridden while districts remain responsible for the costs, without additional state funding. That creates new uncertainty for local school budgets, shifts additional financial risk onto communities, and leaves districts with fewer tools to manage that risk.



What happens next: The House and Senate are expected to vote on the Committee of Conference report on June 4. Read analysis from Reaching Higher.

Bill Watch: An eleventh-hour change has brought us yet another version of an open enrollment bill, this one appearing to be more limited but possibly even more consequential than previous versions.

06/04/2026

HB 1300: Mandatory School Tax Cap Ballot Questions ✏✏✏



Communities already have the ability to adopt school tax caps through existing local processes. HB 1300 instead creates a new state-mandated ballot question that would be separated from the normal school budget and town meeting process. Significant questions also remain about how the proposal would work for cooperative districts and multi-town SAUs.



HB 1300 would require every community to vote on a school district tax cap question during the November 2026 and 2028 general elections. Supporters have framed the proposal as property tax relief, but the bill does not increase state funding for public education or address the underlying factors driving local property tax pressure.



What happens next: The House and Senate are expected to vote on the Committee of Conference report on June 4. Read analysis from Reaching Higher.

Another bill that emerged from Committees of Conference this week is HB 1300, another attempt at implementing school district tax caps. What it does HB 1300 would require every town and ward in a ci

06/03/2026

https://www.concordmonitor.com/2026/06/03/inside-the-collapse-of-open-enrollment-republican-lawmakers-say-ayotte-ignored-efforts-to-negotiate-before-squashing-the-plan/

For more than a week, Republican Rep. Kristin Noble repeatedly tried to garner feedback from the governor about one of the most high-profile pieces of legislation this year. Noble, the chair of a House education committee and one of the prime architects of the universal open enrollment bill, said sh...

06/01/2026

It’s so hard for anyone to keep up with what is happening in Concord, this is your chance to become a better informed citizen.

05/27/2026

Oh man.....how did we end up here?

Is this who you want representing us at the state level? She is not fighting to make anything better for us. She is serving the Free State movement.

05/27/2026

Nothing to see here.....👀

Imagine a state where we just collectively had a set of morals.

05/26/2026

A great opportunity for people to learn about NH taxes from experts! FREE

https://indepthnh.org/2026/05/26/join-indepthnh-for-free-online-talk-with-experts-on-nh-taxes-june-9-from-6-to-730-pm/

05/26/2026

Space is limited! Grab your tickets today!

We are looking forward to a fabulous night of live music from these Seacoast legends.