CONCORD, N.H. – This week the New Hampshire Department of Education (NHDOE) announced that Manchester is slated to receive $46,057,145.58 in base adequacy aid for the 2023 School Fiscal Year.
School districts across New Hampshire will receive a total of $603,343,873.76 in base adequacy aid, which is bosted to $954,654,751 after adjusting for the statewide education property tax. NHDOE reports that this is approximately $32 million more than last year’s figure, which was later increased with an additional $65 million in one-time education funding.
These new estimates are calculated using enrollment counts submitted to NHDOE for the current school year. There are now 159,334 students enrolled in New Hampshire’s public schools, compared to 160,715 in 2020-2021 and 167,284 in 2019-2020. Adequacy aid is based on the average daily membership of resident students. This is the first-time enrollment has dipped below 160,000 from a peak number of 203,715 students in 2002-2003.
With enrollment data now updated, Manchester continues to be the largest school district with 12,163 students, followed by Nashua with 9,917 students, Derry with 4,550 students and Bedford with 4,123 students.
“We continue to see a demographic decline in enrollment numbers,” said NHDOE Commissioner Frank Edelbut. “Following the disruptions of COVID-19 and various setbacks, enrollment declines have been experienced nationwide. While many of our students have returned after a 2020 pandemic hiatus, we continue to see COVID-related declines in enrollment. However, since schools are now fully reopened in New Hampshire, I anticipate this number will slowly begin to advance upward, especially as efforts continue to be made to connect and engage with families.”