The Downside Of Free Lunch: NH Schools Could Get Reduced Aid

CONCORD, NH — Communities and school districts across New Hampshire are realizing the unintended consequences of remote and hybrid learning, dropping enrollments, and working to ensure children outside of school received nutritious meals during the coronavirus pandemic — the potential loss of tens of millions of dollars in local aid.

The New Hampshire Department of Education informed school districts and cities and towns earlier this month that estimated enrollments and free and reduced lunch decreases could lead to drops in education funding given to communities next year. Without an act of the Legislature or school districts scrambling to backfill paperwork for thousands of children who qualify for free or reduced school lunch, as much as $50 million less could go out to school districts in fiscal year 2021.

As school districts and cities and towns began planning for next year's budgets, a perfect storm of financial chaos is taking place partially due to the pandemic but also due to societal factors.

One part of the potentially lost funding is based on enrollment drops across the state that have been occurring annually due to demographic changes like families having fewer children or no children at all, according social science data. While many people have been moving to New Hampshire, young couples and families are not.

The 10-year drop in enrollments show New Hampshire educating a whopping 26,300 fewer students last year when compared to the 2011-2012 school year. Nonpublic schools have also seen a drop of around 2,000 students during the same period. Charter schools, which are public schools in New Hampshire, saw enrollments grow by 3,376 during the same time period — mostly due to new schools opening due to access start-up funds. Officials had hoped to increase charters last year but were unable to due to Democrats controlling the Legislature. With Republicans winning down ballot races and leadership changing in Concord, expect the federal charter grant to return next year.

COVID-19 Enrollment Decreases

The decreases in enrollment seen in New Hampshire schools, which have been going on for decades, were acerbated by COVID-19 enrollment decreases, too.

Another small part of the enrollment drop and funding dilemma is parents choosing to enroll their children in nonpublic schools (religious or private) or deciding to home school their students, especially younger children. Some families with two parents working or a single parent have also pulled their children out of school completely. While limited, in the 2019-2020 school year, New Hampshire had a 95.1 percent attendance rate, a full percent higher than the year before when there was no coronavirus, there were attendance issues due to remote learning. Families are falling through the cracks now, too. Concord police, as example, have actively been tracking down parents of students who have not been attending classes.

Caitlyn Davis, the director of the Division of Education Analytics & Resources for the New Hampshire Department of Education, issued statements of estimated "average daily membership," the term the state uses to track enrollments, to districts and communities on Nov. 15. The data was based on information received from SAUs in October. The data from New Hampshire's K-12 public schools showed a drop of 7,107 students, about 4 percent of the state's students for this school year — or more than double the decrease in average daily membership during the past four school years combined.

The state does not have data available showing per grade drops in enrollment for each community year but overall, younger grades are seeing higher drops in enrollments when compared to older grades, according to Davis.

The adequacy aid grant from the state is expected to be $3,787 per pupil meaning the drop in enrollments alone could lead to $29.9 million in lost state aid.

Nashua had the highest year over year enrollment drop in the state at 663 students while Manchester, the state's largest city, lost an estimated 634 students this year. Decisions in Nashua, like the cancelation of some amount of in-school learning at the beginning of the year, when there were limited cases of COVID-19, has frustrated parents to the point of marching and protesting in the city and pulling their children out of the district.

Potential Lost State Adequacy Aid For FY22

• Nashua: 663 fewer students; $2.51 million less.
• Concord: 201 fewer students; $761,200 less.
• Merrimack: 176 fewer students; $666,500 less.
• Bedford: 173 fewer students; $655,200 less.
• Milford: 137 fewer students; $518,800 less.
• Exeter: 106 fewer students; $401,400 less.
• Londonderry: 96 fewer students; $363,600 less.
• Amherst: 70 fewer students; $265,100 less.
• Salem: 41 fewer students; $155,300 less.
• Windham: 31 fewer students; $117,400 less.

Amounts estimated and rounded. Source: New Hampshire Department of Education

Three Patch communities, Hampton, North Hampton, and Portsmouth, along with dozens of other towns, receive no adequacy grant funds from the state due to their statewide education property tax (SWEPT) raising more money than the state would award in grants. SWEPT is a per thousand tax on all property, usually around $2, issued by the state for use by localities for schools. Since they receive no state aid, those communities will not be affected by enrollment charges.

Free And Reduced Lunch Forms Deal Double Dollar Whammy

When the pandemic hit, and communities began to move to remote learning, the federal government stepped in to grant waivers to states for free and reduced food capacity to ensure students were fed breakfasts and lunches, if they needed them, no questions asked.

Some educators, including Jahmal Mosley, the superintendent of SAU 42 in Nashua, made it his primary focus in the first days of the pandemic to ensure "empty bellies" were filled by whatever means necessary. Later, after raising the issue of not having enough Chromebooks for remote students, the district received 1,700. Other large communities, like Concord, also worked to ensure children were fed by deploying bus drivers and others to deliver meals around the city to children.

Davis said the program was such a success locally, statewide, and nationally that waivers extended through June 2021. Students who are hungry and need one or two meals a day will not go hungry.

However, this success has created a direct financial issue to schools after thousands of families did not fill out or school districts did not collect the free and reduced lunch federal forms used to track impoverished students in New Hampshire schools. Those forms were needed for compliance to receive free or reduced meals before the pandemic.

On top of the $3,787 in adequacy funding, the state also grants an extra $1,893 per student based on families filling out the forms and students qualifying. A community can use that money for anything and the state, Davis said, uses those records to measure poverty in a district, along with other data. Since districts are reimbursed for meals served, that funding, along with adequacy aid, has a direct impact on district budgets.

About 11,000 students who qualified for free and reduced lunch last year were not counted in the current school year due to the lack of documentation, families earnings increasing so they no longer qualify, or students no longer being enrolled in a system.

The loss of revenue to schools in this category could potentially be more than $20.9 million.

Because the preliminary counts were so low compared to last year, it has caused consternation at the local level.

Last week, Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess described the lack of funding in this line item alone as the state "slamming" the community and it might require city officials to raise property taxes even higher next year. In the case of Nashua, it is 1,473 fewer students than last year or $2.79 million in potential lost revenue to the school district. Manchester lost 2,327 students for a potential loss of $4.4 million in aid.

Davis warned school districts that if there was no application, the state could not waive it and just count the kids from last year; New Hampshire law requires the form to get the money. Officials know, she said, if a city or town has a count that is lower than last year, it does not mean there are fewer members of a community living in poverty. Statute though, was statute, she said.

"The Legislature would have to do something," Davis said, which could be done since it will soon be budget season.

Or, Davis added, districts could backfill their applications for all qualifying families to ensure future funding. While cumbersome, there was still time for districts to gather this information. And, the numbers sent out Nov. 15 to districts were preliminary estimates. Those average daily membership counts shift each year. Last year's numbers were revised in October, she said.

"(Districts) have another seven months to get everyone to fill out their forms," Davis said. "But it is important … it's a big deal … I can't impress on people how important it is to actually fill out the form."

Potential Lost Free/Reduced Lunch Aid For FY22

• Nashua: $2.79 million less.
• Salem: $361,600 less.
• Exeter: $206,300 less.
• Bedford: $164,700 less.
• Concord: $123,000 less.
• Londonderry: $36,000 less.
• Amherst: $26,500 less.
• Merrimack: $17,037 less.
• Milford: $17,037 less.
• Windham: $15,100 less.

Amounts estimated and rounded. Source: New Hampshire Department of Education

While the state education department does not have figures available for next year, communities could also lose $2,037 in special education differentiated aid, $741 in English language learner differentiated aid, and $741 in Grade 3 reading differentiated aid for each student in those categories not counted or that may drop from enrollment.

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