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 to discuss relevant issues and happenings that impact the independent, unfunded, RSA 193-A home ed community.
Videos are not part of the official public record; GSHE publishes them on our YouTube channel to benefit the home ed community. They are unedited, published without alternations or modifications.
Several new members are appointed; see the updated list for their contact information. 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.
January 10, 2025
Meeting Draft Minutes – n/a
Highlights:
- Senator Ruth Ward received an email about a homeschooled child who is allegedly not reading at an age/grade appropriate level. Although several council members reiterated parents’ rights and said it would be appropriate for this individual to approach the family and find out if the child has a suspected learning disability, if the child was recently removed from a traditional school and may not have been receiving the needed IEP services [a common problem in public schools], or some other situation that might account for this perceived problem. The Department of Ed representative was also contacted by the concerned family member and responded. Senator Ward said she will follow up with the email author because she thinks this may be a common problem.
- The council continued an intense discussion about HEAC’s statutory obligation and focus – whether it is solely to the independent home ed community as defined in state law RSA 193-A, or does it include other educational pathways that are available to NH families.
- A few members of the public expressed concern that some representatives are EFA advocates in their roles on the council and said it is inappropriate.
- Michelle Rohrbacher (CHENH/SME) presented a draft letter regarding concerns about the Education Tax Credit scholarship program having more delayed reimbursements, the perception that the Children’s Scholarship Fund is “pushing the ETC aside,” and that this grant is distributed to EFA participants although those students are not eligible per RSA 77-G. The letter was approved by the council and will be finalized and sent to Commissioner Edelblut.
Contact us at info@GraniteStateHomeEducators.org if you have any questions or wish to discuss our summary of any HEAC meeting.
Next Meetings
HEAC meets at the NH Department of Education’s office at 25 Hall Street in Concord. They meet on the second Friday of alternating months starting at 2:30pm, unless announced otherwise. The public may attend in-person or via Zoom. Zoom meeting information is available here. The scheduled 2024-25 meeting dates are as follows.
Friday, February 14, 2025 (if needed)
Friday, March 14, 2025
Friday, April 11, 2025 (if needed)
Friday, May 9, 2025
Friday, June 13, 2025 (if needed
Links to meeting minutes and members’ contact information are available on the NH DOE’s HEAC page.
Read More About HEAC
Response to HEAC’s September 2024 Meeting