HB 515 · 2025 · House · Education Funding Committee
End charter school building aid
AI-generatedrepealing the chartered public school eligibility for state school building aid.
Removes chartered public schools from eligibility for state school building aid grants.AI-generated
Status
Killed in the House — Inexpedient to Legislate · March 6, 2025- ✓Introduced
- ✕House
- Senate
- Governor
- Law
Analysis
This bill removes chartered public schools from eligibility for school building aid grants.
From the bill's official ANALYSIS section.
In the bill's words
Quoted verbatim from the bill as introduced. Passages chosen from the operative text.Computed by this site
“A school district maintaining approved schools, desiring to avail itself of the grants herein provided shall submit schematic design plans, cost estimates, and other items determined by the department of education for an eligible school construction project prior to the start of the construction.”
“As of January 1 in each year, the department of education shall cause to be computed the amount of the annual grants for school building aid to be paid to eligible school districts [and chartered public schools] in the succeeding fiscal year.”
“Beginning January 1, 2025 and each year thereafter, to be considered for a school building aid grant, the complete building aid application shall be submitted no later than April 1 of the fiscal year that immediately precedes the fiscal year in which the school desires to seek the district’s legislative body’s [or chartered public school board of trustees'] approval for construction.”
“As deemed appropriate, emergency projects that are recommended by the commissioner of education shall be addressed on a case-by-case basis by the state board of education at any time during the school year.”
Official record
gc.nh.gov · the authoritative source
Sponsors
Public testimony
92 signed in online · 35 wrote testimony
18% support82% oppose0% neutral
In their wordsVerbatim, exactly as submitted
“I support this bill. School aid should go to public schools before any more aid goes to charter schools.”
“I am writing to express my strong opposition to HB 515, which seeks to repeal the availability of school building aid for Chartered Public Schools. One of the greatest challenges Chartered Public Schools face is securing and maintaining suitable facilities.…”
“Public Charter School are public schools. We only just became eligible for building aid and to date no school has been able to take advantage of building aid. Please allow them the same access to public funds as all public schools are eligible for, thank you Jessica Wachsman”
“Bill HB515 Opposed Dear Representative Cahill and the Education Funding Committee, I am writing to express my strong opposition to HB 515, which seeks to repeal the availability of school building aid for Chartered Public Schools.…”
Verbatim excerpts of submitted testimony, quoted from the testimony tool.
Read the testimony · as of Aug 12, 2026
Votes
yeanay- Feb 4, 2025HouseCommittee report· regular calendar: Inexpedient to Legislate10–8Overall56% yea
- Mar 6, 2025HouseDivisionInexpedient to LegislateAdopted212–159Overall57% yea
Hearings and debates
- Jan 21, 2025Public hearingHouse Education Funding59:37–1:04:274m 50slocated in the stream transcriptPublic Hearing
- Feb 4, 2025Public hearingHouse Education Funding39:08–41:432m 35slocated in the stream transcriptMajority Committee Report: Inexpedient to Legislate — roll call; Executive Session
- Mar 6, 2025Floor debateHouse floor56:49–57:571m 8slocated in the stream transcriptInexpedient to Legislate — adopted, division 212-159
Timestamps locate where this bill is taken up in the chamber's YouTube stream.
Legislative history
- Jan 9, 2025HouseIntroduced (in recess of) 01/09/2025 and referred to Education Funding HJ 3 P. 14
- Jan 21, 2025HousePublic Hearing: 01/21/2025 10:00 am LOB 205-207
- Feb 4, 2025HouseExecutive Session: 02/04/2025 09:45 am LOB 205-207
- Feb 4, 2025HouseMajority Committee Report: Inexpedient to Legislate 02/04/2025 (Vote 10-8; RC) HC 14 P. 19
- Feb 14, 2025HouseMinority Committee Report: Ought to Pass
- Mar 6, 2025HouseInexpedient to Legislate: MA DV 212-159 03/06/2025 HJ 7 P. 31
Coverage
No reporting linked yet.
Background reading
Evergreen reading on the policy area — spanning perspectives — not coverage of this specific bill.
- What Are Charter Schools?Explainer
Education Week — A plain-language primer on how charter schools are funded and governed, and the tradeoffs of their independence.AI-generated
- National Charter School Study III (2023)Academic — national evidence
CREDO · Stanford — The most-cited national study of charter outcomes: charter students gained modestly more in reading and math than matched public-school peers, with special-education students an exception.AI-generated
- Key Conclusions from the New Orleans school reformsAcademic — the all-charter precedent
Education Research Alliance for New Orleans (Tulane) — Nonpartisan researchers' findings on what happened when New Orleans became the nation's only all-charter district — the one real-world analog to HB 1358's proposal.AI-generated
Education Next — A reform-oriented argument that district-wide charter conversion drove measurable gains in New Orleans and offers a model for other systems.AI-generated
Brookings — Analysis warning that charter-based choice — including in New Orleans — tends to modestly increase school segregation rather than reduce it.AI-generated
- Public Charter Schools in New HampshireNH context — official
NH Department of Education — The state's own overview of how NH's ~38 public charter schools are authorized, governed, and funded (state pays roughly $10k/pupil vs. ~$19k in districts).AI-generated
Documents (PDF)
Bill text & amendments link direct to gc.nh.gov; committee reports stream from the state record.