NH School Scoop - April 7, 2026
NH college students can no longer use their school IDs to vote, the ConVal School District is under Title IX investigation, and there's encouraging news on student engagement.
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🪪 New Hampshire just banned the use of student IDs as voter identification, tightening ID rules ahead of the 2026 elections.
Gov. Kelly Ayotte has signed House Bill 323, a law that removes high school and college IDs from the list of acceptable identification to vote in New Hampshire. Starting in June, only government-issued IDs will count, such as any state driver’s license or non-driver ID, a U.S. military ID, or a U.S. passport or passport card. This will be in effect for the Sept. 8 state primary and Nov. 3 general election.
Supporters, including Rep. Ross Berry of Weare, argue the change is about election security. They say student IDs lack address verification, citizenship checks, and strong security features, and call them the “weakest link” in the state’s election integrity system.
Opponents frame the law as a targeted restriction on student voting. They note that some high school seniors and college students do not have driver’s licenses and may struggle to get state IDs in time.
Find out more about voting regulations in New Hampshire.
📜 A new NH law expands the list of offenses that automatically disqualify a person from obtaining a state teaching credential.
In addition to existing disqualifying crimes, the law now includes faking academic records, domestic violence, negligent homicide, robbery, and felony-level assault.
The Department of Education says it will pause processing an application if an educator has been charged with one of these crimes; if charges are dropped or the person is cleared, the review can continue.
The bill moved through the House and Senate with little debate and was recently signed by Gov. Kelly Ayotte.
🙋 Here is some good news for educators. The Walton Family Foundation has surveyed Gen Z and found higher levels of student engagement.
In 2025, all eight measures of student engagement reached their highest levels. The biggest gains: the share of students who say school lets them do what they do best rose to 50% (up from 40% in 2023), and those who say they have a teacher who excites them about the future rose to 78% (up from 70%).
Still, about half of students don’t feel their coursework uses their strengths or challenges them meaningfully, and more than one in three say they haven’t learned anything interesting recently.
While only 50% of middle and high school students feel that all or most of their teachers are excited about what they teach, students with more passionate and engaging teachers are significantly more likely to report optimism and to feel prepared for life after graduation.
About three-quarters of Gen Z (77%) agree they have a great future ahead of them, a figure that has held steady for three years. Students are more optimistic than young adults (84% vs. 73%). Black Gen Zers stand out as especially optimistic; 45% strongly agree they have a great future ahead, at least 14 percentage points higher than their Hispanic, white, and Asian peers.
🏛️ Open enrollment legislation, or SB 101, is making its way through the New Hampshire House and Senate. In the meantime, Reaching Higher New Hampshire has a detailed analysis of this bill’s attributes, including its latest changes.
According to the New Hampshire School Funding Fairness Project, over three-quarters of in-person testimony and nearly 97% of online respondents oppose SB 101.
There are concerns that the legislation will end up excluding or disadvantaging students with disabilities, even though the bill formally bans discrimination. There have been cases where open enrollment applications have been denied for students with disabilities.
If you would like to give your opinion on open enrollment legislation to Governor Ayotte, click here to submit a form.
🏳️⚧️ The Trump administration is investigating ConVal School District over its transgender bathroom and locker room policies, despite conflicting claims about the district’s actual non-discrimination rules.
A federal civil rights investigation into the ConVal School District was triggered by a complaint from a parent and the national group Defending Education, which opposes what it calls “indoctrination” in schools.
The complaint centers on the district allowing a transgender girl to use the girls’ locker room. In an email, the principal cited New Hampshire law and former governor Sununu’s veto to explain that “biological males” cannot be barred from girls-only spaces, but said the uncomfortable student could be accommodated elsewhere.
🏅 Extra Credit:
Students from New Hampshire will represent the Granite State in the National MATHCOUNTS Competition in Orlando, Florida, next month.
Parents in the Mascenic School District (New Ipswich/Greenville) are mobilizing to preserve Boynton Middle School sports after voters rejected the district’s proposed 2026–27 budget for the third year in a row. Because the default budget is about $467,678 lower than what the district requested, several cuts are on the table. (potential paywall.)
Congratulations to Alisa LaSalle, who has been appointed Director of Student Services in the Conval School District. Even cooler, Alyssa is a Conval grad.
A NH civics essay contest asked high schoolers how U.S. founding documents should guide AI regulation. First place went to Vaibhav Rastogi, a Bishop Brady and VLACS student, who earned $5,000. His essay argued that AI promises innovation and access to knowledge but also threatens constitutional commitments to free speech, property rights, and personal liberty; thus regulation must protect those core freedoms.
Londonderry High is shifting from a four-house to a three-house administrative model and, at the same time, launching Lancer Academy for the 2026–27 school year. Lancer Academy is designed as a place where students can earn graduation credit through nontraditional, career-focused pathways: career and technical education (CTE) classes, extended learning opportunities (ELOs), and the district’s adult education program. (potential paywall.)
The U.S. Department of Education has terminated previously negotiated civil-rights agreements with five school districts and a California community college that were designed to protect transgender students. These agreements, reached under the Obama and Biden administrations, required schools to take concrete steps to comply with Title IX as interpreted to cover gender identity and sexual orientation.
The Concord Board of Education has approved the 2027 school budget of about $124 million, which is essentially level-funded compared with the current year but still results in a projected 12.2% increase in the local school tax rate. For a $400,000 home, the Concord Monitor estimates that’s roughly $724 more per year on the tax bill.
The Trump Administration’s new budget proposal for fiscal year 2027 again calls for eliminating or slashing many long‑standing K‑12 programs, despite Congress largely ignoring similar proposals last year and keeping funding levels. The administration wants to create a $2 billion “Make Education Great Again” (MEGA) block grant, into which 17 separate programs would be folded, with required minimums for literacy and math, but at a funding level about $4.6 billion below the total of the program. (potential paywall.)
The Dover School Board labeled a surprise $1.7 million bill from SchoolCare, its public‑sector health insurance risk pool, as “unlawful” and voted unanimously not to pay it. Dover will move its employee health coverage to HUB International, an insurance broker with New Hampshire offices.
Gov. Kelly Ayotte and NEA-NH’s President Megan Tuttle visited Auburn Village School to celebrate reading and highlight a new statewide literacy initiative. Ayotte has directed Education Commissioner Caitlin Davis to launch a new reading initiative: identify NH schools with the highest percentages of students reading at grade level, study what they are doing, look at effective models from other states, and then spread those best practices statewide. Governor Ayotte also spoke of improving our students’ math and reading scores in a speech in Manchester.
The Hanover Street School Parent Teacher Organization has launched a fundraising campaign to rebuild one of the school’s two main playground structures, which is 35 years old, now rusting, and difficult to repair.
A former Loudon Elementary School building assistant, Shelbee Hogan, has filed a federal lawsuit against Merrimack Valley School Administrative Unit (SAU 46). She alleges that after taking approved medical leave, she was effectively forced to resign rather than being allowed to return to her job.
Congratulations to Sam Bicknell, who will become Dublin School’s next head of school in July. Bicknell is succeeding Brad Bates, who is retiring after 18 years as head of school. Bicknell will be leaving his post as Dean of Students at Deerfield Academy.
NHTI in Concord has created an Accelerated Early Education Certificate to respond to New Hampshire’s child care workforce shortage and post-COVID certification rules.
At Thorntons Ferry School in Merrimack, a Literacy Leadership Team has led a multi‑year effort through the Bridging the Gap in the 603: Pathways to Literacy Proficiency grant from NHED. The goal has been to move fully into structured, evidence‑based literacy instruction and to make that shift stick.
If you want to know the latest on teacher credentialing in New Hampshire, click here for their March newsletter
School Lunch Hero Day is coming up on May 1st. Here are some resources.
Pittsfield, a small district of about 450 students, is in early talks with the Concord School District to contract out superintendent and business/financial administrator services rather than hiring its own new central office team.
SAU 6 in Claremont is bringing one superintendent finalist, Tim Broadrick, in for a public forum amid ongoing turmoil over finances and the search process. Meanwhile, the District has hired CBIZ Forensic Consulting Group to complete a forensic audit of the district’s finances from January 1, 2019, through December 31, 2025, covering the years leading up to and through the crisis. (potential paywall.)
We recognize the passing of Dr. Phil Littlefield, who was a teacher and administrator in Massachusetts and later became Superintendent of Schools in SAU 15, comprised of schools in Auburn, Candia, and Hooksett—our condolences to Phil’s family.
Congratulations to Vedhsai Thiriveedi, a junior at Nashua High School South, who was recently named a national STEM champion. He will travel to Washington, D.C., in June to participate in the third annual National STEM Festival.
Merrimack Valley’s transportation costs have jumped almost 50% since 2021–22, about 10% per year, and now total roughly $3.1 million annually, including vehicle replacement, maintenance, supplies, and dues. Thus, the school board is considering outsourcing most of its busing to First Student. The bus company submitted the only bid to take over in-district transportation and is proposing a contract of about $2.8 million next year, with 4% annual increases through the 2030–31 school year. (potential paywall.)
Lakerbots 8046, a FIRST Robotics Competition team of 20 students from Inter-Lakes Middle High School, received the FIRST Impact Award at the New England Pine Tree District event in Maine, in recognition of sustained community service and STEM outreach in Meredith.
A state task force is working to overhaul how New Hampshire evaluates public schools and is actively inviting community feedback. Over the next two weeks, they will hold four one-hour listening sessions around the state, in Concord (also on Zoom), Derry, Berlin, and Keene (also on YouTube).
📖 Picks of the Week:
Hopefully, our field has moved beyond situating our students in rows 100% of the time, using brain research and common sense. We truly can effectively design our classroom space to maximize learning.
I have always found it interesting that students at our military schools tend to achieve the highest academic scores in the nation. This piece explores this phenomenon.
Some of the best podcasts originate right here in New Hampshire through NHPR. Their Civics 101 series is particularly relevant and well-produced. Given the U.S. Supreme Court’s prodigious importance, this pod is worth listening to.
🎙️On tomorrow’s Scoop Podcast
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