New charter school in Newport to open with literacy focus in 2026

Cornerstone Chartered Public School is set to give Sullivan County families a new public-school option in Newport next fall, opening with grades K-3 and a literacy-first model built around Orton-Gillingham-based instruction and a knowledge-building curriculum. The tuition-free charter plans to add one grade each year until it reaches K-8, putting a new school choice in the county seat at a time when parents are paying close attention to reading outcomes and classroom fit.

The school is open to New Hampshire residents without tuition, and its application materials show an open-enrollment period for the 2026-27 school year from Dec. 1 through Feb. 28. If applications exceed the number of available seats, Cornerstone says it will hold a blind lottery no later than April 15. After Feb. 28, the school says it will continue with rolling admissions if spots remain. Out-of-state students may be eligible to attend with tuition under New Hampshire charter-school law.

Cornerstone’s backers are pitching it as more than another elementary option. The school says it will serve the Upper Valley and Lake Sunapee region from Newport and will be the only charter school of its kind within 50 miles of Lebanon. The New Hampshire Department of Education lists the school as state-approved, with the charter approved Jan. 9, 2025, and an anticipated fall 2026 opening at 137 Summer St. in Newport.

The local footprint has already reached Newport’s land-use process. The town’s Planning Board has asked for nonbinding written comments on whether Cornerstone’s planned use at 167 Summer Street fits normally applicable land-use regulations. In Newport, where the town website says the population is about 6,500 and the community serves as Sullivan County’s seat, the school has become both an education story and a zoning issue.

Its arrival also raises a larger question for the Newport-area district landscape: how many students might leave for a charter seat, what that could mean for staffing, and how much per-pupil funding could follow those students out of traditional schools. That question matters because New Hampshire’s charter sector has been growing. The state said there were 38 approved charter schools early in 2025, 32 operating, and three more that could potentially open in fall 2026. Enrollment reached 6,322 students in October 2025, up from 6,020 in October 2024.

For families looking ahead to September 2026, Cornerstone’s launch adds a distinct literacy-centered option to the county’s education map, and it will be watched closely as one more piece of the region’s shifting school landscape.