Concord Schools Eye Cuts, Layoffs, As Salary Increases Hit Budget, Soaring Property Values Lower Extra Aid

CONCORD, NH — The Concord School District is working its way through the fiscal year 2027 budget cycle, attempting to find ways to fill a close to $18 million budget deficit while also limiting tax increases to a little less than $2 more per $1,000 assessed value.

The board recently approved a preliminary budget of $123.8 million — a decrease of about $700,000 from FY26. Under the proposed plan, local property taxes would increase by $1.78 per $1,000 assessed value, while the statewide property tax (SWEPT) would increase by about 11 cents per $1,000 assessed. Assessed home values have also increased and are being reevaluated. An average home, assessed at about $400,000, will see a tax increase of around $756.

This increase does not include the new middle school project.

FY27 SAU 8 budget documents can be found archived here.

According to budget drivers, salaries are expected to increase by more than $1.9 million year over year, while benefits are expected to increase by $1.05 million. The district’s debt contribution is rising by $1.98 million. Out-of-district transportation is rising by more than half a million dollars. Insurance, electricity, supplies, non-CDL vehicles, interest, maintenance and plowing, and other items were slated to increase by more than $1.6 million.

Revenues were also projected to drop by $7.2 million.

Local and federal aid came in at around $650,000 less, while transfers and a raid on the unreserved fund balance totaled at least $2.2 million.

Budget Public Hearing Dates

• 6 p.m. on Monday, March 23, at the multi-purpose room of the Mill Brook Primary School.
• 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25, in the school board room of the central office at 38 Liberty St.
• 5:30 p.m. on Monday, March 30, in the school board room of the central office at 38 Liberty St. (open session)
• 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 31, in the school board room of the central office at 38 Liberty St. (finalize prelim budget)

State aid is expected to drop by $3.4 million, according to the school district.

But it does not tell the entire story of why Concord is short.

Adequacy aid by the state rose by $86 per student. But enrollments are estimated to drop by 55 students in Concord, or about a quarter of a million dollars in aid. Of those students, 48 were previously receiving free and reduced lunch. That is another $117,000 lost.

But the bulk of the drop is in the “extraordinary grant” and “fiscal capacity disparity aid” categories of state aid.

These grants, essentially a bonus to districts with students who receive free and reduced lunch, offer a sliding scale of extra aid for having free and reduced lunch students if there is limited equalized valuation property growth. The grant is lowered when populations decline and property values increase.

The Legislature set the figure at a 2 percent annual property growth. The property growth value rate in New Hampshire was 9 percent year over year. Concord, however, has increased by more than 17 percent. This has led to a preliminary grant loss of $3.28 million.

The SWEPT, however, will increase by about $500,000. This will result in a loss of about $2.8 million in adequacy aid across those two categories, due to growth in property values in Concord.

Other property-rich and income-poor or -middle-class communities are also seeing other drops in the extraordinary grant and fiscal capacity disparity aid categories, according to state officials.

It is unknown if the school board or anyone, frankly, has spoken to the 10 state representatives in Concord or its single state Senator, all Democrats, to have them add an amendment to RSA 198:40-d and 1988:40-f to change the formula to restore the funding.

In an email to staff and families, Superintendent Tim Herbert said the board had approved $6.8 million in non-personnel reductions.

Some of those expenses include new smart boards, gym equipment, musical instruments, furniture, and other small items, which add up across multiple schools.

“These reductions were found by carefully reviewing every category across every school and department — supplies, subscriptions, contracted services, technology, and more,” he said. “Central office staff have worked evenings and weekends to find every possible dollar before any conversation about staffing.”

The district is also toying with how it finances the new middle school project, which is approaching $280 million in actual costs, due to higher-than-expected interest rates and two sets of financing, by delaying principal payments and trust fund transfers in the early years of the project. The district is also considering selling the Liberty Street building to a developer — something that should have been done 14 or 15 years ago during the elementary school consolidation process to reduce the cost of the $90.8 million project.

The sale of property, fiddling with the financing of the middle school project, or the use of trust funds are, though, one-time uses of money. They do not address the fundamental fact that SAU 8 has not corrected its staffing levels in the wake of enrollments dropping from 4,528.50 to 3,742.37 in a decade, while per-pupil costs have ballooned from $13,644.59 to $24,351.28 in a decade.

As personnel is the largest amount of the budget, the district and board are having “the most difficult conversations” and considering “a range of options, across all levels — classroom, support, and administrative” to make the numbers work. Herbert said no final decisions have been made on layoffs.

Herbert thanked staffers for all their work attempting to make the budget work and encouraged the public to attend the public hearings and offer comments on the budget situation, calling them “difficult conversations” the community needed to have.

“Your voice matters in this process,” he said. “I encourage you to attend a public hearing, reach out to your board members, and stay engaged. The board is listening. These are difficult conversations. I appreciate the board’s deep respect and care for every person in this district, from our custodial staff to our classroom teachers to our administrators.”

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