Running for a seat on the Concord School Board can be done with a shoestring budget – or even no budget at all – but a few candidates have raised more than $1,000 this cycle.
The five candidates running for Concord School Board shared their campaign finance information publicly this week, and spending varies between incumbents and challengers.
The three incumbents, District A candidate Jim Richards, who is running unopposed, District B candidate David Parker and District C candidate Gina Cannon have each spent no money on their campaign this year, and received no donations. All three were able to do so because they reused the lawn signs they had already purchased for previous elections. Richards estimates his lawn signs cost “less than $400” in 2014, while Cannon estimates her lawn signs cost about $350 in 2019.
District B challenger Cara Meeker says she has received $1,150 in contributions (each donation under $100), and has spent about $1,320 on her campaign so far. The money has gone to yard signs, print advertising, postcard printing, stamps and labels, and a booth at Halloween Howl, Meeker said.
District C challenger Sarah Robinson says she has received $2,191 in contributions, and that she has spent about $1,000 on her campaign so far. The money has gone toward signs, printing costs, ads and a booth at Halloween Howl. She has been maintaining her finances “in accordance with existing campaign finance law,” even though the law doesn’t technically apply to school board races.
In Concord, there is no requirement that school board candidates make their campaign finance information public. Parker said he thinks it should be a requirement.
“I’d agree with that, because we’re trying to keep partisan politics out of our city government,” Parker said. “You could get some group from out of state funding someone who isn’t representative of the community.”
Both Robinson and Meeker raised funds through ActBlue, a fundraising platform for Democrats. However, both candidates say they are running as nonpartisan candidates for a nonpartisan position. Concord School Board candidates, like candidates for City Council, appear on the ballot without party designation.
“I’ve learned in my career of following education policy and helping communities better support students and the school district that it doesn’t matter what people’s political backgrounds are,” Robinson said Friday. “Granite Staters value and support their public schools and we find common ground around our shared hopes for the futures of our children. I plan to listen and always act in the best interest of students.”
Meeker said she chose ActBlue for its simplicity after first having technical issues with PayPal and Venmo, but says if she were to run again, she would choose a more non-partisan website.
“I believe that school board members should strive for nonpartisanship,” Meeker said. “The school board represents a diverse community of people who come together in the shared goal of educating our children. It is my hope that matters of importance to me – inclusion, student and staff safety, and curricular opportunities – are nonpartisan issues.”
It’s not the first time a Concord School Board candidate has used ActBlue – board members Jonathan Weinberg and Kate West used the platform to raise funds during the 2020 school board race, and board member Pamela Walsh used it in both 2020 and 2021.
New Hampshire’s campaign finance laws require state candidates whose contributions or expenditures exceed $500 to report the details to the New Hampshire Secretary of State, but the law doesn’t apply to local school board candidates.
The Concord School District Charter Commission attempted to change that for the capital city earlier this year, by adding an amendment to the charter document requiring school board candidates to disclose their finances, but their idea was nixed by the Attorney General and Secretary of State in June.
In a letter dated June 3, New Hampshire Department of Justice deputy general counsel Myles Matteson told Concord Charter Commission president Betty Hoadley that towns, not school districts, have the power to enact finance disclosure rules.
“No statutory provisions appear to give school districts the authority to put in place campaign finance charter provisions, and the reviewing agencies object to this proposed amendment,” Matteson wrote.
Hoadley said the Charter Commission was disappointed by the state’s ruling.
“There was a very, very high level of frustration,” Hoadley said. “We thought it was absolutely critical, and we had spent a lot of time on it.”
Ironically, the Charter Commission’s nine members were required to report their own campaign finances when they ran for their seats, due to a requirement in the district’s charter document which was approved by the state in 2011.
Hoadley said she spent $3 in her 2021 Charter Commission campaign, which she used to buy a sheet of posterboard. She’s still holding out hope that Concord School Board will get a campaign finance disclosure requirement one way or another.
“What I’m hoping it would do is prevent the invasion of folks that don’t have the same intent that most do when they decide to campaign for school boards,” Hoadley said.