New Hampshire opts into the federal §25F scholarship tax credit: Gov. Ayotte announces participation during School Choice Week

On January 29, 2026, during National School Choice Week, Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte announced that New Hampshire would opt into the new federal Education Tax Credit program for scholarship granting organizations created under §25F of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. As reported by the Concord Monitor, the decision clears the way for New Hampshire taxpayers to give to approved scholarship granting organizations (SGOs) and claim a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit of up to $1,700 per taxpayer. The credit becomes available for the 2027 tax year, so the practical effect of the announcement lands at the start of next year rather than immediately. Children's Scholarship Fund New Hampshire, a long-running in-state scholarship nonprofit, positioned itself to administer the federally backed scholarships, and its executive director Kate Baker Demers welcomed the move in both the organization's own announcement and the Monitor's coverage.

The mechanics are what set §25F apart from an ordinary charitable deduction. A taxpayer who donates to a qualifying SGO claims the contribution back as a credit, not a write-off, meaning the federal government effectively offsets the gift up to the $1,700 ceiling. The donated dollars then fund scholarships that families can use for tuition and other qualifying education expenses. Eligibility runs to families earning up to 300 percent of their area median gross income, a regional threshold set in the statute rather than a single flat statewide figure. New Hampshire's entry follows the advance-election path the federal government laid out for states under §25F for the 2027 program year; that election is what places a state on the federal roster and is a precondition for any of its taxpayers to claim the credit. The IRS confirmed in a newsroom release that more than half the states had signed up, and New Hampshire appears on that participating-states list.

For SGOs and donors in New Hampshire, the timeline now matters more than the headline. Because scholarships do not flow until the 2027 tax year and states' lists of qualifying SGOs are due to the federal government ahead of the January 1, 2027 launch, the months between now and then are the window in which organizations get qualified, donors plan their giving, and families learn whether they fall under the income threshold. Children's Scholarship Fund NH is the most visible candidate to run scholarships in the state, but the program is open to other qualifying organizations as well. Operators weighing whether to stand up or expand a qualifying organization can review how the program works in our explainers and see the current national field in the SGO directory; the donation-and-scholarship machinery can run on software built specifically for §25F. New Hampshire's status, including what families need to know locally, is tracked on our New Hampshire state page.

New Hampshire joins a roster of more than 20 states that have committed ahead of the 2027 launch. Virginia was first to opt in under Glenn Youngkin, Florida followed when Ron DeSantis signed on, and Colorado came in early under Jared Polis. The IRS later published its own official list of 27 states making the advance election, the count that supersedes the smaller running tallies cited at the time of individual announcements. On the cap itself, the figure is fixed in statute, as our explainer on why the credit is $1,700, not $3,400 lays out. How quickly New Hampshire builds out its SGO network, and how many donors use the credit in its first year, will determine how much the decision actually delivers for families. The full national picture is mapped on our state participation map.