The Home Education Advisory Council (HEAC) is intended to support and advise the NH Department of Education regarding their work with the home education community and be a bridge to education agencies in the public-school arena. It is the only public board that represents the home-education community at the state level. It is established in state law RSA 193-A:10 with more definition of the function and purpose in Ed rules 315.09 and 10.
Members typically meet every-other month of the traditional school year, unless otherwise announced, to discuss relevant issues and happenings that impact the independent, unfunded, RSA 193-A home ed community.
GSHE publishes HEAC videos on our YouTube channel to benefit the home ed community. They are unedited, published without alternations or modifications.
Find HEAC members’ contact information on the NH Department of Education’s website page for HEAC. The public is welcome to attend in person at the DOE’s Concord office or via Zoom. Details are available at the bottom of this article.
September 12, 2025
Summary
The Home Education Advisory Council (HEAC) met on September 12, 2025, with Michelle Rohrbacher (CHENH/SME) serving as Acting Chair. The meeting’s primary focus was to finalize and approve HEAC’s 2024–25 Annual Report to the state Board of Education.
Over the past few months, council members had been invited to review and submit edits to the original draft prepared by Chair Marcus Zuech (GSHE). Until this meeting, only Rebecca Anderson (Prax) had submitted written edits, which were discussed during the August meeting but could not be formally approved due to a lack of quorum.
At this meeting, Dianne Nolin (CUHE) presented her own version of the report, expressing a preference for in-person discussion rather than virtual collaboration. While some members noted that ample time had already been given for edits, the council agreed to review Nolin’s draft. After discussion and minor revisions to the language, HEAC unanimously approved the final version of the Annual Report.
Highlights from HEAC’s 2024–25 Annual Report
- Home Education Growth: The report notes a 40% increase in home education participation in New Hampshire.
- Public Perception: HEAC has submitted home education success stories to legislators to help counteract negative public perceptions.
- Equal Access Concerns: The council discussed reports that EFA students are being charged for Equal Access programs that are otherwise free to home-education students. HEAC will work with representatives from the Principals and Administrators Associations to address this issue.
- Training for Administrators: HEAC recommends that training materials be developed to help school administrators better understand the distinctions among New Hampshire’s educational pathways.
- Terminology Matters: The council reaffirmed its commitment to the consistent use of the legal term “home education” to distinguish it from Education Freedom Accounts (EFAs) and other programs. The misuse of “homeschooling” as a blanket term has contributed to confusion among the public and lawmakers alike.
- Protecting Pathway Integrity: HEAC emphasized that conflating EFA and home education programs undermines the legal foundation of home education and fuels legislative misunderstandings. The Background Check Bill—introduced three times since 2021 when the EFA started—was cited as a prime example of this ongoing challenge.
- Rising Costs: Members noted concern that curriculum and service providers appear to be raising prices faster than inflation, possibly due to perceived market elasticity from EFA funding.
- Scholarship Fund Oversight: HEAC reviewed complaints regarding the Children’s Scholarship Fund (CSF), including delays, errors, and questions about prioritization between the Education Tax Credit (ETC) and EFA programs. The Commissioner, legislators, and CSF’s legal counsel agreed that “stacking” EFA and ETC funds is legal, though HEAC has requested final confirmation from the NH Department of Education’s legal team. GSHE covered this issue more in-depth here.
- HiSET Access: GSHE first brought this concern to HEAC in spring 2022 and still awaits a remedy for the continued discriminatory policy. HEAC seeks clarification on rule Ed 704.2(f), which currently requires agency approval for 16- and 17-year-old home-educated students to take the HiSET exam. HEAC recommends revising this rule to align with parental self-certification under the home education statute.
Other Updates
- Legislative meetings will temporarily move to 1 Granite Place during State House renovations.
- The council recommended that Marcus Zuech contact the new Commissioner of Education to request that HEAC vacancies be filled.
- Discussion on developing a HEAC Best Practices document was deferred until additional information is received from the Department of Education. Dianne Nolin distributed a handout summarizing past best-practices discussions for members’ reference.
Next Meetings
HEAC meets at the NH Department of Education’s office at 25 Hall Street in Concord on the second Friday of alternating months starting at 2:30pm, unless announced otherwise. The public may attend in-person or online. Zoom meeting information is available here. The scheduled 2024-25 meeting dates are as follows.
An initial schedule for the 2025-26 HEAC year is as follows:
October 10, 2025 if needed
November 14, 2025
December 12, 2025 if needed
Links to meeting minutes and members’ contact information are available on the NH DOE’s HEAC page.
Read More About HEAC
Efforts to Finalize HEAC Annual Report Stalled at Special Meeting
HEAC Faces Political Retaliation for Fulfilling Its Mission
HEAC Seeks Clarity re Home Education
HEAC Attempts to Improve Home Ed Communication
HEAC is Focused on Home Ed and the EFA is Public Education
HEAC Struggles to Define Mission and Statutory Obligations
Response to HEAC’s September 2024 Meeting
By Deb Sullivan and Michelle Levell
