Concord School District’s proposed $96.3 million budget contains $4 million in new spending, including increases in salaries and benefits, professional development funds and setting aside funds for the future Rundlett building project.
The proposed spending plan represents a 4.43% increase from the current budget of $92.2 million. If passed as proposed, the tax rate would increase by 0.52 cents, or about $182 a year on a $350,000 home.
The school board has met regularly to work on the budget throughout the months of February and March. The board held public hearings on the budget Monday at Mill Brook School and Wednesday at the district headquarters. There is one more public budget session Monday before the board is expected to vote to finalize the budget Wednesday. The nine-member school board will need at least five affirmative votes to approve the budget.
The majority of the proposed budget – $74,346,959 – will go toward salaries and benefits for school employees, which includes about $2.3 million in employee pay raises. Business administrator Jack Dunn said the salary increases are accompanied by an extra $775,144 in health insurance costs and $493,899 more for New Hampshire Retirement System contributions. Workers compensation and dental coverage also increased this year.
There’s also a proposal for a new curriculum coordinator position at a cost of $149,447.52, who will manage curriculum and instruction across all grade levels and schools. There’s also a proposal to add a new advanced registered nurse practitioner position at the same cost, who will oversee Medicaid and sign off on medical orders for special education students. Currently, the district pays a per-hour rate to a doctor does that work.
“We want to bring one on staff to be able to assist with that, consult as it relates to IEP oversight,” Dunn told board members at a budget work session. “We believe this position would be offset by Medicaid revenue.”
The proposed budget contains $45,000 in stipends for professional development training for teachers after survey data revealed teachers want to increase their skills in social-emotional learning, collaboration, and math and reading interventions.
“There’s never been anything in the budget, we’ve always relied on grants and it’s just not sufficient,” interim curriculum coordinator Mary Wilson told board members at one of the budget work sessions. The budget also contains an additional $80,000 in professional development district-wide, for materials.
The budget includes a $1.7 million transfer to the Facilities and Renovation Trust Fund, to be used for the new Rundlett Middle School building project. Last week the district entered into a letter of intent to purchase a 38-acre property owned by Center Point Church on Clinton Street for the new middle school. There are no bond costs related to the middle school project in this year’s budget.
The budget contains increases in contingencies and maintenance service contracts due to the demand for equipment repair and replacement. Facilities and planning director Matt Cashman told school board members that HVAC equipment has been experiencing more wear and tear due to increased use since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the early months of the pandemic, the HVAC system was running nonstop. Now, it starts running two hours before the school day begins and stops two hours after the school day ends.
“I just want to portray to everyone that we are running this equipment more – much, much more than it was originally intended,” Cashman told board members. “We are seeing things fail, we are seeing pumps and motors fail sooner. Just think of driving your car constantly. We are driving this equipment in these buildings constantly.”
In terms of revenue, the district expects to receive $28,433,393 in revenue, a 5.54% increase from last year, from sources that include tuition from Deerfield and special education students and state and federal aid. There will be an anticipated $2,100,000 unreserved funds.
In 2021 the district received $4.3 million from a federal coronavirus relief package and $9.7 million from the American Rescue Plan.
The Concord School Board is unique in New Hampshire in that it determines its budget independently without a ballot vote from citizens or a sign-off from city government officials. As the Concord School District Charter Commission has deliberated on possible changes to the district’s charter document this year, school officials have spoken in favor of maintaining that independence, saying it gives the district the advantage of being able to act quickly to get good financial deals and save money on big projects. The Charter Commission is not currently considering altering the district’s fiscal autonomy.