$1.5 Million in Funds to be Split Between New Hampshire Schools

CONCORD, N.H. – Over 160 New Hampshire communities are set to receive additional funds owed to them after a an error was found by the New Hampshire Department of Education.

According to a DOE release, the error was found in the Smarter Balanced assessment student data for 2015 and 2016. As a result, the DOE will be distributing $1,483,428 to districts that should have been reimbursed as part of the normal adequacy payment process.

In April, Gov. Chris Sununu signed SB 539, a bill that appropriated the funds and facilitated sending the corrected education grants to cities and towns.

The districts will receive $684,498 related to 2015, and $798,930 related to 2016. In those years, districts should have received differentiated aid for third grade students with attainment below the proficiency cut score on the reading assessment. However, not all students received this aid.

NH DOE Commissioner Frank Edelblut thanked the six sponsors of the bill and said that students can now receive the extra support they need.

“I’m glad that we are able to fix this so that this $1.5 million gets to the schools where it appropriately belonged,” he said. “These funds are an important part of our adequacy funding and will make sure third graders get the support they need to become great readers.”

According to the bill, 163 communities will receive between $689.80 and $110,563.47. Those communities include Amherst ($18,812.79 in total funding), Bedford, ($17,718.86 in total funding), Salem, ($45,192.50 in total funding), Merrimack ($43,199.74 in total funding), Concord, ($49,421.90 in total funding), Nashua ($110,563.47 in total funding), Exeter, ($23,711.08 in total funding), Milford ($28,804.47 in total funding), Londonderry, ($45,910.17 in total funding) and Windham ($29,961.11 for 2016 and 2017.)

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