While nearly all school districts in the state are offering in-person learning or a hybrid model, where students take classes in-person some days and at
While nearly all school districts in the state are offering in-person learning or a hybrid model, where students take classes in-person some days and at
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Demetrios Tsaros has a tough job: investigating reports of potential child neglect or abuse in Manchester for the state’s Division of Children Youth and Families, or DCYF.
These days, he’s getting lots of reports from schools worried about educational neglect: Kids aren’t logging onto their remote classes, and their parents are also falling off the map.
“Basically, by the time the ed neglect report comes to my desk, the school district has exhausted all these efforts, whether it’s calls, emails, letters, or visits to the home,” Tsaros said. “There’s just been really a lack of engagement with the family.”
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What is the ‘COVID effect’ on school budgets this year?
Public school costs in New Hampshire are covered in large part by local property taxes, but each year, the state sends an important kind of aid to districts called “adequacy aid.” This per-pupil aid is calculated largely on a district’s overall student enrollment, as well as its poverty level from the prior year.
But during the pandemic, public school enrollment dropped significantly in many districts, as some parents decided to homeschool their children or send them to in-person classes at private schools. In addition, a change in the federal free and reduced price lunch program during the pandemic has made it difficult for districts to measure poverty levels and therefore, state aid (more on that here).
Credit Sarah Gibson for NHPR
Lawmakers are looking for ways to help school districts address anticipated budget shortfalls resulting from declines in enrollment during the pandemic.
New Hampshire saw a four percent dip in public school enrollment this year, as more families opted for homeschooling and private school rather than remote learning. Many see this as a temporary shift and assume that when schools fully reopen, most families will return.
But the current state funding formula sends money to schools for next year based on 2020-21 enrollment.
And there s another glitch: Far fewer families are filling out applications for free and reduced price meals during the pandemic, in spite of what many districts say is an ever-growing need. The state uses those applications to calculate the number of low-income students in districts, which translates directly to state aid.