This past school year, Children’s Scholarship Fund (CSF) New Hampshire offered a record number of K-12 scholarships to low and middle-income families to send their children to schools that best meet their needs, and we are set to break records once again in the 2019-20 school year.
During the 2018-19 school year, a total of 306 New Hampshire children benefited from CSF scholarships worth $630,771, representing the largest cohort of scholarship recipients to date for CSF in New Hampshire, up from 257 students in 2017-18. Although scholarship applications for 2019-20 are still being processed, to date CSF has already awarded more than $1,050,000 in scholarship funding for more than 520 New Hampshire children for the coming school year.
Over the past two years, CSF’s fundraising has been at its highest ever. The increase in contributions and growth in scholarships are partly due to changes in the Education Tax Credit law that allow individuals to receive a tax credit against interest and dividend tax (I&D) in addition to businesses being eligible for a credit against business profits tax (BPT) and business enterprise tax (BET). The new changes also create a longer window in which individuals and businesses can make donations, making it easier for CSF to anticipate funds available for scholarships and carry over some contributions, empowering a greater number of new families with the freedom to choose their children’s schools while ensuring families can remain in the program, avoiding disruption and uncertainty at the start of a new school year.
“We are extremely grateful to the many donors who have supported scholarships this year, and to the New Hampshire legislators who, in 2018, championed changes to the Education Tax Credit law which expanded the program to offer the opportunity to plan ahead and to secure the future of the children who receive scholarships.” said CSF Executive Director Kate Baker.
At CSF, we hear from parents and grandparents of children below grade-level who need smaller class sizes or more attention; bullied children who need a different safer school; children with special needs, and even children who need to be more academically-challenged. These families assure us our supporters’ investments in scholarships are opening the door to a brighter future for their children, which will pay huge dividends to our state as they become productive members of society.
This year, CSF New Hampshire surveyed scholarship families on their experience with the program, with 63.7 percent of families responding. The survey found:
- 92.3 percent agree or strongly agree their child has experienced a measurable improvement in academic achievement since using their CSF scholarship,
- 93.8 percent of parents reported they agree or strongly agree they are satisfied with the school their child attends using a CSF scholarship, and
- 89.2 percent of parents agree or strongly agree their child would have been unable to attend the school of his or her choice without a CSF scholarship.
To learn more about the New Hampshire Education Tax Credit and Children’s Scholarship Fund in New Hampshire, contact Kate Baker at (603) 785-0174 or kbaker@scholarshipfund.org.