77-G:2 Scholarships. –
I. (a) An eligible student may receive a scholarship to attend (1) a nonpublic school, except when the student has been placed by the local school district through the special education process; (2) a public school located outside of the school district in which the student resides and for which the public school is not eligible to receive an adequate education grant payment for the student in the current fiscal year, in an amount not to exceed the tuition cost of the public or nonpublic school; or (3) the cost of college or university, accredited tutor or tutoring facility, or distance education program. A home education student may also receive a scholarship to cover educational expenses. A student shall not receive a scholarship from more than one scholarship organization.
(b) The average value of all scholarships awarded by a scholarship organization, excluding eligible students who received scholarships for educational expenses related to home education only, shall not exceed $2,500. Beginning in the second year of the program, the commissioner of the department of revenue administration shall annually adjust this amount based on the average change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, Northeast Region, using the "services less medical care services" special aggregate index, as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department of Labor. The average change shall be calculated using the calendar year ending 12 months prior to the beginning of program year. In each of the first and second program years, a scholarship organization shall award a minimum of 70 percent of all scholarships issued to eligible students as defined in RSA 77-G:1, VIII(a)(1) and (2) and, notwithstanding RSA 193-E:5, shall notify the department of education of the unique pupil identifier and date of birth for each of these students granted a scholarship within 30 days following the end of each program year. The required minimum percentage of all scholarships issued by a scholarship organization to eligible students as defined in RSA 77-G:1, VIII(a)(1) and (2) shall be reduced by 5 percent each program year for years 3 through 15 of the program, and, at the beginning of the sixteenth program year and every program year thereafter, there shall be no required minimum percentage of scholarships.
(c) The minimum value of a scholarship granted to a student receiving special education programs or services pursuant to RSA 186-C shall be 175 percent of the maximum average scholarship size as defined in subparagraph (b).
(d) At least 40 percent of the scholarships awarded by the scholarship organization to eligible students as defined in RSA 77-G:1, VIII(a)(1) and (2) shall be awarded to students who qualified for the federal free and reduced-price meal program in the prior year.
(e) A student shall reapply each year for a scholarship.
II. Scholarship organizations may meet the percentage requirements of subparagraphs I(b) and (d) if, pursuant to a mutual agreement, the organizations aggregate their scholarship data and the aggregated data shows compliance with the percentage requirements.
Source. 2012, 287:4, eff. June 27, 2012. 2017, 63:3, eff. Aug. 1, 2017. 2018, 357:7, 8, eff. July 1, 2018.