By GARRY RAYNO, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD — A proposal to consolidate the state’s 109 School Administrative Units (SAU) into 12 large entities faced a fire storm of opposition Tuesday from educators, administrators, school boards and counties, which would be saddled with public education’s administrative functions.
Under House Bill 1804, there would be separate SAUs for the state’s two largest cities, Manchester and Nashua, and for the 10 counties.
Superintendents would be replaced by elected “chief school administrators,” who would then hire specialized staff to oversee areas like special education, transportation and grant writing, while school boards and building principals would take on greater responsibilities under the plan, whose prime sponsor Rep. Dan McGuire, R-Epsom, chaired a consolidation study committee last year.
McGuire told the House Education Policy and Administration Committee that New Hampshire residents are the least taxed by the state in the country at about $2,500 per citizen, but are in the top half of most taxed states when municipal taxes and spending are included.
“Clearly we have a local spending problem and schools are the bulk of that spending,” McGuire said. “So we have a school spending problem.”
The state spends one of the highest amounts for school administration in the country with only Vermont spending more, he said.
The vast amount of administrative spending is at the SAU level, McGuire said, and that is the motivation for his bill, which is also sponsored by House Speaker Sherm Packard, R-Londonderry, House Majority Leader Jason Osborne, R-Auburn, and other members of House leadership.
He said in the private sector if you pay more you get better quality and better products, but the public sector does not work that way.
The chief school administrator would be elected every two years during the November election instead of at school meetings in March where the turnout is about one-fifth of the general election, he noted.
Schools are completely controlled by people elected in March, McGuire claimed, where the turnout is heavily weighted toward “insiders” who want spending to go through.
He said school boards and superintendents do not want to control costs and budgets like they do in the Legislature, because those voting for the increases benefit.
Rebecca Wilson, of the New Hampshire School Boards Association, said later in the hearing that statement was offensive to school board members who do try to contain costs and struggle with the decisions they have to make.
School board members are parents, retirees, business owners and taxpayers who spend hundreds of hours working for little or no compensation, she said.
And the 100s of bills the legislature has passed over the last three terms have impacted the operation and finances of public schools, raising local costs while the legislature has not done anything to address the over reliance on local property taxes, Wilson said.
Several people testifying Tuesday noted the state first needs to address meeting its obligations to provide and fund an adequate education before making major changes that would upend both the public education and county government.
McGuire said one of the advantages to having counties administer education is it would give more elected officials, the county commissioners and the county delegation —composed of representatives from the county — more eyes looking at budgets.
Giana Gelsey, the Madbury representative to the Oyster River School Board, said from listening at the hearing, there is a gross misunderstanding or considerable ignorance about how schools, school boards and superintendents work.
“First of all, this views schools as a marketplace,” she said, “they are a public good, and should be viewed through that lense.”
Gelsey said school boards always try to find efficiencies and to say superintendents and school boards do not care about costs is absurd. “We are elected officials, of course we care about costs,” she said.
She also opposed electing the chief administrator saying that could easily lead to putting an unqualified person in the top spot for the entire county. And she said it should not be a partisan position that could flip every two years bringing instability.
The consolidation to the county will not serve the people and would not save administrative costs because it would be too much for one person to do without hiring 10 assistants, Gelsey said.
The administrator would not have time to go into each school to see what the needs are and what the students’ needs are, she said.
This bill does not address the funding issue and would fundamentally make it worse, she said.
“This bill is not about public education,” Gelsey said. “The purpose is to destroy public education.”
Chris Coates, the Cheshire County Administrator, opposed the bill and said the bill would upend both public education and county governance while shifting costs to the counties.
County government is not structured to take on a pre-kindergarten to 12th grade education system without any guidance or funding, he said.
He said his county has worked through issues of police coverage by the sheriff’s department and ambulance services through user fees and not by placing the burden on taxpayers by careful planning and working with the stakeholders.
This bill is set up to cause confusion and politicalization, Coates said. It would be a major undertaking that would require additional personnel, he said.
You have to try to think of every situation and how it would work, not put something in place and see how it works, he said, which is what the bill would do.
“To me this is really troubling.” Coates said, who has the backing of the Cheshire County Commissioners and the NH County Administrators Association.
Rep. Rick Ladd, R-Haverhill, who chairs the House Education Funding Committee, said although he supports consolidation of SAUs he has concerns and issues with the bill.
He noted the driving motivation is to lower administrative costs through consolidation and economy of scale, and he agrees the 109 SAUs are too expensive.
But he said “you can’t paint this thing with one brush.”
He noted he comes from Grafton County, which is divided in half, with Hanover and Lebanon in the south and Littleton and Woodsville in the north and the difference in salaries and property values.
For 18 years he has been on the county delegation, Ladd said, and voting for sheriff is down party lines and you may have a person with no experience.
“I don’t want to see that in education,” Ladd said, and he didn’t want it to become a political job.
He listed other concerns with the bill including evaluations of personnel, whether there would be too much control at the county level, and loading another package of responsibilities on building principals.
“We need to look at this very, very carefully so we don’t tear down what we have,” Ladd said. “Before we step into a program and get over our heads, we need to take care of some of these issues.”
He said the bill could be used to begin the work to consolidate SAUs, but in a more thoughtful way.
The only person speaking in support of the bill besides McGuire was Rep. Ken Weyler, R-Kingston, who chairs the House Finance Committee. He said major change is alway difficult and can take some time to achieve legislatively.
He said property taxes are out of control because spending is out of control and you have to do something.
The position needs someone who can bring efficiencies to the operations, Weyler said.
The number of students is going down, but the number of staff is going up, he said. That does not make sense in any organization, Weyler said.
The first things school boards should be looking at is combining classes, he said, and not hiring more administrators.
The school population is going down and the elderly population is going up, he said
“I could not in good conscience give more money to education,” Weyler said, “when the population is going down.”
Deb Howes, president of the American Federation of Teachers NH, said the lawmakers should look to Vermont and Maine, who both tried consolidations of school administrative units and the outcomes.
She said neither effort saved the money promised and also confronted local opposition.
HB1804 introduces complexity, cost, and instability while weakening local voice and professional educational leadership, she said.
“Evidence from Maine and Vermont shows that consolidation does not save money and often leaves communities feeling less heard and less well?served,” Howes said. “Our students deserve a system focused on teaching and learning, not a disruptive governance experiment.”
The committee did not make an immediate recommendation on the bill.
Garry Rayno may be reached at garry.rayno@yahoo.com.