New Hampshire Education Freedom Accounts in Plain English: What an EFA Is and How It Works

By My Learning Source · October 30, 2026 · Scholarships, Guides

Most New Hampshire homeschool parents have heard of Education Freedom Accounts by now. Fewer could explain one across the kitchen table without getting a piece of it wrong. So here's the whole thing in plain English: what an EFA is, who runs it, who can get one, what it pays for, and the string that matters most to families who teach at home. For the short version with every official link in one place, see our Education Freedom Accounts guide.

What it is

An Education Freedom Account, or EFA, is New Hampshire's education savings account. The legislature created it in 2021, and the law is RSA 194-F. The idea is simple. The state already pays school districts a per-pupil adequacy grant for each child, plus extra money called differentiated aid for some children. With an EFA, the commissioner of education sends that same state money to a scholarship organization instead, and it lands in an account for your child (RSA 194-F:2, I).

You don't get a check. You spend from the account on approved education costs: tutoring, curriculum, online courses, classes, therapies, technology and private school tuition, among others. The money isn't taxable income to you or your child (RSA 194-F:2, VI). Only the state's share moves. Local property tax money stays with your district.

Who runs it

The New Hampshire Department of Education oversees the program and writes its rules, known as Ed 800. The day-to-day work belongs to Children's Scholarship Fund New Hampshire, a nonprofit in Concord that everyone calls CSF or CSFNH. CSF takes applications on its ScholaVia portal, approves the tutors, schools and other providers who can be paid, and reviews every purchase. The money itself sits in ClassWallet, a digital wallet where you shop an online marketplace, pay approved providers directly, or ask to be reimbursed. CSF's EFA page and its 2026–27 Parent Handbook, updated August 2026, are the two documents to read first.

Who can get one

Since SB 295 became law in June 2025, there's no income limit. A child qualifies if parent and child live in New Hampshire, the child could enroll in a public elementary or secondary school, and the child turns 5 by September 30 of the school year. The big exclusion: a child enrolled full-time, meaning more than half of instructional time, in the resident district school or a public charter school, VLACS included, can't hold an EFA.

Universal doesn't mean unlimited. The law caps enrollment, and the cap for 2026–27 was 12,500 students. CSF announced on August 13, 2026 that every seat was filled, with 943 more eligible students on a waitlist. Four priority groups skip the cap entirely: current EFA students, their siblings, children with disabilities as defined in RSA 186-C:2, and households at or below 350 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. CSF's handbook says the cap rises to 15,625 for 2027–28.

How much it is

The account gets the state's base adequacy amount plus any differentiated aid your child qualifies for. The official 2025–26 rates were $4,265.64 base, plus

,392.92 for a household at or below 185 percent of the poverty line,

What it pays for

The statute lists the categories (RSA 194-F:2, II), and CSF's handbook fills in the details. For families teaching at home, the ones that matter most are curriculum and textbooks, tutoring, non-public online programs, co-op and microschool classes, lessons and specialized programs, therapies, test fees, and a computer every three years. Every person who teaches or serves your child has to be an EFA-approved provider. Paying yourself, or a relative, to teach your own child is not allowed.

The string homeschoolers need to know

This is the part people miss. A child in the EFA program is legally an EFA student, not a home-educated student. Since July 1, 2026, RSA 193-A says so in plain words, and a home education program ends when the child starts in the EFA program. Your days can look exactly the same. You still teach at home and pick your own curriculum. But the signed EFA agreement is what satisfies compulsory attendance now, and it comes with duties that home education under the 2026 law doesn't have: teaching the core subjects listed in the statute, spending only on qualifying expenses with receipts, and turning in a yearly test score or portfolio evaluation by July 15 to keep the money coming.

Where things stand this fall

As of October 27, 2026, CSF's EFA page still describes the 2026–27 cycle, and no 2027–28 application dates have been posted. Applications are rolling. For 2026–27, an application completed and verified by July 15 got a full-year grant, and families can apply through February for a prorated grant. A 2026 bill on the cap, HB 1834, died on the table when the session ended. We'll add 2027–28 dates to our education calendar when CSF announces them.

The Morins homeschool three children outside Keene. Their oldest has an IEP from her years in the district school, so she joined the EFA program in 2025 under the disability priority. When the 2026–27 cap filled in August, her two younger brothers still got in as siblings of a current EFA student. Their mother now runs three separate balances in ClassWallet: one pays a speech therapist through Direct Pay, one covers a math curriculum from the Marketplace, and one is saving toward a laptop. In June she books a certified teacher to review all three portfolios before the July 15 deadline.

(A composite example — names and details are illustrative, drawn from situations homeschool families commonly describe.)

Your short list

Read CSF's 2026–27 Parent Handbook once, start to finish.

Decide whether you're comfortable with the legal switch from home education to EFA student before you apply.

Check whether your family falls in a priority group. If not, apply anyway and expect a waitlist.

Gather proof of New Hampshire residency (no P.O. boxes) and proof of your child's age.

Use EFA-approved providers, or ask yours to register with CSF at no cost.

Plan your July 15 test or portfolio review now, not in July, and browse tutors, evaluators and curriculum sellers on our vendor directory.

My Learning Source is an independent marketplace and is not affiliated with the New Hampshire Department of Education, Children's Scholarship Fund New Hampshire, ClassWallet or the Education Freedom Account program, and a listing on our site does not mean a vendor is an approved EFA education service provider. Rules, amounts and dates change every year — confirm details with CSF before you act. Family examples are composites, not real individuals.

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