Charter Proposal Hits a Snag

The Concord School District Charter Commission scheduled an unexpected meeting on July 27, to address a letter sent to members from state officials citing language problems to the group's charter revision proposal.

In the letter, signed by members of the Attorney General’s Office, Secretary of State’s Office, and Dept. of Revenue Administration, commission members were told that the state officials objected to sections of the group’s final report concerning the election or appointment of the school district treasurer. Officials were upset because the changes were not contained in the preliminary report previously reviewed by the officials.

In the final report, the commission suggested that the Concord School District would elect a treasurer in 2012 unless some new state law could intervene and allow the district to appoint one, something that has always been done in the past, according to Elizabeth “Betty” Hoadley, the chairwoman of the Concord School District Charter Commission.

Hoadley said the district historically had two exceptions to state law: To allow school board members to be elected annually and the appointment of a treasurer and secretary/clerk, which are in the district charter today. When the old charter goes away, assuming Concord voters approve the new proposal in November, the exceptions go away too, according to Hoadley.

The Legislature approved a bill to allow the school district to continue to elect school board members annually. But the issue of an elected treasurer and clerk were not addressed, she said.

“It’s not a problem to elect a clerk, if you have one that’s willing to do it,” Hoadley said. “The bigger issue is the difficulty in electing a treasurer, under our format, and we would prefer to appoint a treasurer, because it’s just simpler. It’s the way we’ve always done it and it works.”

However, state law, according to the officials, requires each school district that is not a cooperative school district, to electe a treasurer for the district.

“We do not believe it is appropriate to draft charter provisions with contingencies based on future actions by the state Legislature,” the letter stated.

In the letter, the officials suggested, “when this proposed Charter goes into effect, it may be appropriate to elect the school district treasurer for the balance of the unexpired term in the manner described by existing statute.” Officials requested that language be put into proposed charter showing that the treasurer would be chosen in a manner consistent with statutes.

The Charter Commission went into private session to consult with its attorney, Dan Crean, and after coming out of that session, agreed that a few of the members would meet with the state officials soon to discuss the issue in person. Hoadley said they would elect a treasurer, if need be, but would also explore having the Legislature add back the waiver.

“It’s no big deal,” she said. “It’s hard to figure out their motivation and I’m not going to presume to do it. We know that we have a small problem. We hope it’s a small problem. And we hope by going and talking about it … we can get it resolved.”

Officials are up against the clock because any changes to ballot proposals need to be settled before ballots are printed. For the city part of the election cycle, the deadline is Aug. 15. For the school board, it is later in the month, according to Hoadley. 

The Charter Commission has proposed two ballot questions for Concord voters. One would wrest control of the Concord School District charter from the Legislature. The second proposes to change the process by which Concord School Board members are elected from all at-large members to a combination of ward and at-large members, over a period of years.