New Hampshire’s Republican-controlled Senate voted 14-9along party lines last week in favor of a bill that would set up a fund to dispense tuition scholarships to help low- and middle-income families send their children to secular private schools.
Sen. Carl R. Johnson, a Republican and the sponsor of the bill, said the fund would provide tuition subsidies ranging from $2,500 to $3,500 to as many as 16,000 students over the next seven years. To be established with an initial $1 million in state money, the fund would be administered by a nonprofit group that would solicit donations from businesses, which in turn would receive a state tax credit. Families could use the scholarships at out-of-district public schools or at nonreligious private ones, Mr. Johnson said.
The bill goes next to the Republican-controlled House, where it is expected to face Democratic opposition.
