Special Ed in Windham vs Hampstead (home, schools, income)

[Mfreddy]

Hi all! We are considering a move to Southern NH and are specifically looking at Windham and Hampstead NH. We have a son with autism as well as a neurotypical child. I’d love to hear from anyone with experiences in those schools. We love that Windham is closer to Boston, where my husbands work would be based out of, but the home prices are pretty high. Thanks for any insight!

[Wells5]

In New Hampshire, local taxpayers bear a great deal of the cost of special education and of education in general. Cost of autism program IEPs can drive up local property taxes. Would you want that?


Below is listed the least expensive suburbs of Boston. The Commonwealth of MA provides generous funding for special education.


Moderator cut: link removed, competitor site


In Pa, special education is handled through the "intermediate unit." In New York State, through the BOCES. Both are state funded. New Hampshire has no equivalent.

[Mfreddy]

We are going back to NH as that is where my husband is from and it is important that we live near family. So MA is not an option for us. Thanks for the reply!

[gf2020]

Wells5, is right. Despite the desire to live in NH, MA may be a better fit for your children. In general, special education services are better and your husband will have to pay MA state income tax regardless of where he lives. Depending on where your family actually lives, a border town like Tyngsborough, Dracut or Merrimac, may not be that much further away than Windham or Hampstead.

[miu]

Wells5 - Given that property taxes is how NH towns fund their schools, most here will not welcome a family moving into their town with a special needs child. It just doesn't balance out when your possible property taxes are going to be ~$10K and your children will cost over well over that. A normal child costs about $17K a year to teach, and a special needs child could cost much more at $100K a year. And if a school has adequate staff to deal with their current special needs students, adding one more student could take away from those students or cause the school to have to hire an additional teacher to handle the workload.

If your husband really cares about NH or his family in NH, you both will move to a MA along the border of NH... rather than cause the property taxes to go up in whatever NH town you move to.

And if you go to the MA forum, you will also see that your question about where to move with a special needs child will not be enthusiastically replied to. It's just too bad that it costs so much to work with special needs children. And yes, society is supportive, but people are more willing to support those with special needs that have longtime roots in their community, rather than welcoming random outsiders from town to come in and use up their resources and tax dollars.

BTW where are you trying to move from???

[miu]

Wells5 - I wish that special needs student costs could be funded with federal tax dollars that could follow these children wherever their families move to in the US. Plus that it wasn't so expensive to teach them and their parents should be shown how to help with the schooling also. Schools should not be considered free childcare for them either.

[miu]

Oops sorry, my last two posts should have directed to Mfreddy, not Wells5!!!

[Wells5]

The federal government does contribute to the cost of special education but in NH, it's the local taxpayer who will bear the brunt. There really should be a national plan to treat ASD children with the US Government footing most of the bill as the numbers of such children seem to have exploded.


I was at a supermarket check out not too long ago and a tall, handsome normal looking teenage boy was bagging my groceries. I asked his name as I hadn't seen him before. He didn't reply and a woman who stood beside him told me that he was on the spectrum and was being taught how to bag groceries.

[Toxic Waltz]

I've lived in NH for more than 7 years and my autistic son has never been made to feel unwelcome. There are aholes everywhere, including on internet forums, but don't let them keep you away from what is otherwise a great state to live in.

[miu]

Originally Posted by Toxic Waltz

I've lived in NH for more than 7 years and my autistic son has never been made to feel unwelcome. There are aholes everywhere, including on internet forums, but don't let them keep you away from what is otherwise a great state to live in.

It would be greatly appreciated if you would acknowledge the fact that your autistic son costs your neighbors more in property taxes. You act as if it no big deal that a special needs child could cost a town an extra $75K or more a year.

So yes, we support you as a society, but it's easier to bear that burden if...

1. That child belongs to a longtime town resident, not a newcomer for out of state.

2. If there are not too many special needs children in each town.

So, no we are not welcoming of families with special needs children coming in from other parts of the US or the world. It then becomes too much of a financial burden to bear. And it's the same line of thinking when towns can't afford to have the majority of their residents having multiple children in our schools at the same time.

It's not being an "ahole" to not want ones property taxes to keep climbing up the way it has been doing for the last 20 odd years. And knowing that YOU think me an "ahole" for not being welcoming to special needs children moving to my town just lets me know that you don't appreciate the financial sacrifices all your fellow townspeople are making to accommodate your autistic son.

I agree with wells5 that the monies for special needs children ought to be coming from the federal government budget and not on a local town by town contribution. This financial pain ought to be spread out fairly among all US taxpayers.