SAU 8 Concord School District Hosts 2 Budget Public Hearings This Week

CONCORD, NH — The SAU Concord School District and its board of education are holding two public hearings about its fiscal year 2026 budget.

While the budget has not been finalized — there is still some nibbling around the edges, it will be in the neighborhood of $112 million. The budget is expected to go up a little less than 3 percent while the local tax impact will increase around 4.4 percent — or around $0.62 per thousand or $217 annually for a home assessed at $350,000.

More than 76 percent of the budget is salaries and benefits, and those increased by 2.2 percent and more than 3.4 percent. The budget includes training and professional development, classroom tools, and requirements to assist special education and English language learners.

Superintendent Kathleen Murphy and Business Administrator Jack Dunn said a few drivers for the increase were 13.4 percent more for health insurance, workman’s compensation insurance, which increased by 12 percent, and property and liability insurance, which increased nearly 14 percent.

Budget Meetings

• 6 p.m. on Monday, March 17, at the Mill Brook Primary School, 53 S. Curtisville Road. Public Hearing
• 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 19, at the School Board meeting room, 38 Liberty St. Public Hearing
• 5:30 p.m. on Monday, March 24, at the School Board meeting room, 38 Liberty St. Budget Session.
• 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 26, at the School Board meeting room, 38 Liberty St. Final Budget Session.

Officials said the special education costs reflected “a steady increase” — including a rise in autism and students with medical needs. Around 850 students of the district’s 3,700-plus students are health impaired or have a learning disability. According to officials, autism has increased in children from one in 250 in 2001 to one in 36 today. Additional educational assistants will be required to assist those students and handle caseloads.

2025-2026 Budget Doc Links

Budget materials for the FY26 fiscal year are posted by meeting date on the district’s Board of Education 2025 — Agendas, Minutes & Videos page.

The district said transportation costs for homeless, foster, and special education students “have spiked” during the last year due to a shortage of drivers requiring the hiring of third-party providers. The district is projecting to spend more than $1.3 million more than budgeted for transportation, which is required by law.

The district proposes buying smaller vans and using non-CDL drivers to fill the transportation gap.

More than $5.9 million is budgeted for debt service payments by the district, including $292,000 for HVAC repairs at the Rundlett Middle School, which is proposed to be knocked down. That debt payment ends in 2027.

Other debt service payments include more than $1.6 million for new HVACs at Concord High School and the Beaver Meadow Elementary School, which will be paid off in 2045, new buses, the conversion from steam to gas, proposed in 2017, which has 20 years of payments left, and the elementary school consolidation project, $2.54 million, which will be paid off in 2041.

The budget does not include any costs associated with the middle school project. However, the board will consider votes in April to address “outstanding liabilities” for the Broken Ground site, future bond reimbursement, and a vote on financials for a new school at the current site.

The budget proposes $973,903 in reductions, mostly based on retirements, vacancies, and enrollment projections, which have decreased significantly during the past 10 to 20 years. Although this has not led to savings or budget stabilization, the reduction is the equivalent of 11.9 full-time equivalents. Most of the reductions—11.2 FTEs—are at Concord High School.

The district also proposes adding back 3.6 FTEs for special education, another English language learner staffer, and a school resource officer for Rundlett.

Another $482,898 in reduced district staff and contracted services are also proposed.

The district also proposes using $2.45 million of its $27.8 million trust fund capacity to balance the new budget.

Of the transfers, $1 million will come from the health risk management fund to offset those increases and $1 million from the special education trust to offset those costs. Money previously put into the trust fund included tax rates that should have been rolled back due to expiring projects but never were.

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