In an effort to spare taxpayers, the Concord Board of Education passed a flat-funded budget that cut 45 staff positions. Even so, the projected school tax rate was expected to rise by 12.2%.
If a tax cap on district expenses had been in place in March, Concord administrators say they would have had to reduce their budget by an additional $6.3 million.
“We would have to look at things that we’re obligated to do and things that we love to provide because we believe it’s part of a well-rounded education but are not obligated to provide,” Superintendent Tim Herbert said in a special board meeting last week.
As an example, Herbert said providing transportation for students above the age of 14 is not legally required. Other board members chimed in, listing athletics, music and art as other programs that may have to go on the chopping block.
Proponents of a tax cap argue that school spending is out of control and believe voters should have more checks and balances. Opponents argue the cap will hurt public education and lead to the loss of teachers, programs and even schools. Others warn the wording of the question is simply too confusing to fully understand its implications.
Republican Rep. Ross Berry, of Weare, who championed the cap, said it is designed to give voters an accessible way to regain control over one of their biggest household expenses.
“These taxes are rising faster than inflation. Their property taxes are rising faster than wages,” Berry said. “So it’s this bill that just keeps going up and up and up and eating more and more and more of their income.”
What is the tax cap and how might it play out?
This November, voters will be given a chance to cap their school district’s property taxes and limit the budget of the school administrative unit (SAU) central office.
House Bill 1300, which was signed into law in July, requires the school tax cap question to appear on Granite Staters’ 2026 and 2028 ballots. Every municipality in New Hampshire will vote on a combined question: whether to limit local school district property tax growth and cap SAU central office spending.
If 60% of all voters within a school district vote ‘yes’ in November, school budgets would not be allowed to increase the school district portion of local property taxes by more than the rate of inflation. The second part of the question would cap the spending of the school administrative unit (SAU) to 6% of total school district appropriations.
Four different tax rates combine to create the property tax rate in New Hampshire: the school district, the city or town, the county and the state. This cap would only apply to the school district’s tax rate, which frequently occupies the greatest portion of a tax bill.
The question then states, “These caps apply only to administrative operations of the SAU central office and do not affect classroom instruction, school-based services, or other municipal expenditures.”
If passed, the measure will be adopted for two years, impacting fiscal year 2028, which starts in June 2027.
The two-questions-in-one is a point of confusion for voters, said Alex Tilsley, policy director of Reaching Higher NH, a nonpartisan group focused on in-depth research and analysis on state education policy.
“It doesn’t always align perfectly: town, district, SAU; and so you have different groups of voters who will decide each part of that question,” Tilsley said. “And those are all different things in some places.”
One part of this misalignment is in multi-district SAUs.
For example, SAU 29 encompasses seven independent school districts: Chesterfield, Harrisville, Keene, Marlborough, Marlow, Nelson and Westmoreland.
If 60% of residents in two of the seven districts voted ‘yes’, but 60% of residents in all seven districts did not, then those two districts would adopt a local property tax cap, but there would not be a cap on SAU spending.
More locally, SAU 46 encompasses both Andover and Merrimack Valley school districts. Taxpayers’ votes in both districts would count toward the SAU spending cap, but the local district’s property tax cap would be counted based on the individual district’s residents. Tilsley said, from her understanding, the 60% is based on the number of voters who answer the question, not the number of ballots submitted overall.
The Merrimack Valley School District also overlaps with the City of Concord in Penacook. This overlap means that voters in two city wards will vote on both school districts, even though they only send their children to one or the other.
Berry said the two questions are grouped because both caps work together.
“If you want to cap administrative spending, you have to also cap the revenue side of it, because otherwise, they’ll bloat the rest of the budget to increase the 6%,” Berry said.
In a case where an individual district decides to adopt the tax cap, but other districts within its SAU do not, Berry said the district would have to figure it out.
“They’ve never once had to figure it out; they’ve always just raised taxes,” Berry said. “And that’s why we’re spending nearly $28,000 per student in New Hampshire, because they’ve never tried to figure it out.”
How Concord’s school district is reacting
In Concord, the lack of distinction between town, district and SAU lines sounds alarm bells for school administrators and board members. Concord residents in Wards 1 and 2 will vote on whether or not to limit spending in both the Concord and Merrimack Valley school districts, because there is no way to distinguish which school district the resident pays taxes to.
“There will be people who are not eligible voters in the Concord School District voting on placing a tax cap on our [school district], which will likely mean we’d end up in court if this passes, and as with Merrimack Valley,” said School Board President Pamela Walsh, during a special board meeting.
Board members and district administrators across the state have voiced concerns and worry about how a tax cap would impact public education, especially as already-tight budgets have led to cutting teaching positions and programs.
On Oct. 14, the Concord Board of Education held a special meeting to discuss the implications of a tax cap. Bow and Hopkinton school districts were among others who held similar public hearings about the tax cap.
The Concord district’s presentation outlined that special education costs have increased in the past few years and are expected to continue increasing, as the district serves students with more intensive needs, relies on contracted providers and covers the high cost of nursing and one-on-one support.
The timing of the November vote also poses challenges for school districts, Tilsley said. Administrators are making multiple estimated budgets in case the measure passes.
“Because we’re having this vote before we do the actual budget process, there’s no way to know what will be cut from your budget if you adopt this cap,” Tilsley said. “But it’s almost certain that in some districts we will see impacts to classroom offerings, to extracurriculars, to the things that communities tend to value in their schools.”
Between fiscal years 2024 and 2026, the amount of state aid given to Concord to provide an adequate education declined by $3.2 million, according to the district’s presentation.
In Concord’s last budget process, when overall spending was flat but taxes still increased, veteran Concord High School social studies teacher Kim Bleier said people needed to ask: ‘What was the difference?’
“The difference was lack of state and federal funding for public education,” Bleier said. “And we’re concerned that we’re going to see the same issue again this year with more cuts and the realistic implication of that for teachers and students is that our class sizes are bigger, people’s caseloads are bigger.”
Bleier worried for students if school district budgets become more constrained. She said the tax cap could leave some students without access to education, especially as public schools struggle to keep their doors open.
“Every child is entitled to a free and fair education, and so if your local community school has to close, that doesn’t feel free and fair anymore for those kids,” Bleier said.
Berry argued that because the tax cap would account for inflation, classroom teaching should not be impacted.
Some communities already have a tax cap; a look at Franklin
Towns and cities already have the option to bring a tax cap to a vote locally, usually during the district’s budget process in the spring. Adding a tax cap question to the November ballot changes the process.
Berry said the local process doesn’t engage many voters as it stands, because not everyone has the time to attend local meetings and when discussions are drawn out, even fewer people are able to show up and voice their opinions. He said the bill allows as many people as possible to have a say in reducing spending and property taxes.
“You end up with this process that is designed to shut people out,” Berry said.
Franklin, a lower-income city, is rare in that it already has a tax cap. Its school district had one of the lowest starting teacher salaries in the state during the 2025-26 school year, at $39,990.
Nonetheless, last April, Franklin High School won New Hampshire School of the Year, showing that the district could do more with less.
But there are limits, according to its school board members. In June, the district proposed a budget that exceeded its tax cap. Board members said they were at a point where they would have to cut positions and programs without more funding; in other words, they would have to do less with less.
Karen Testerman, a Franklin resident and proponent of the tax cap, said that while Franklin may not be as impacted by the November tax cap question, she believes a cap is beneficial for towns and cities across New Hampshire.
“My concern is you’ve got senior citizens and others, not just senior citizens, but you have people living in Franklin who are on fixed income, and you keep increasing your tax rate and your property taxes, and they can’t live in the house,” Testerman said.
Further, Testerman questioned why more money is needed when student enrollment is declining.
“We’ve got less than 1,000 students,” she said. “Why do you need all those extra teachers? And what are you doing with that money that’s improving student performance?”
Questions and confusions
David Bates, a Warner resident and former school budget committee member, challenged the tax cap question in a lawsuit filed in late August, alongside Kelly Wieser, of Campton. They argued the ballot question was unconstitutional and that its wording was confusing and misleading. Ultimately, they were told it was too late in the process to stop the question from appearing on the ballot.
Bates said the assertion that the tax cap would not harm classroom teaching does not seem reasonable.
“Seeing how many things are interconnected and how little flexibility school districts have around budgeting once their fixed costs are taken into account, the reassurance that (the tax cap) was absolutely not going to harm classroom teaching seemed wildly misplaced,” Bates said.
Bates said he feels there are many political forces telling the public why to say ‘yes’ and not enough explanation on what will actually happen if they do say ‘yes.’
“State funding is never brought up for a vote to voters. There’s no voter who goes to a ballot and has to ratify the legislature’s decision to send less and less money to schools,” Bates said. “… My fear is just that people will be familiar with the tax burden that they’re paying, and not familiar with exactly why it’s happening.”
