NHS Candidates Debate Budget Cuts, Ed. Ideology

A recent controversial budget decision and the related idea of equal educational opportunity played center stage Tuesday during a friendly, and at times jovial, debate between two North Hampton School Board candidates.

Incumbent board Chairman David Sarazen and newcomer Tamara Le each fielded a variety of questions from eighth grade students and members of the audience during a People Active in Learning-sponsored candidates night at .

Several of the questions related to the  proposal to  at the school, a budget cut that generated a lot of public criticism and even lead in part to Le's decision to run for .

"I don't think it should've been handled the way it was," said Le, a mother, former reporter covering North Hampton, and a former North Hampton Energy Committee secretary. "I think they could've done a better job finding money that didn't directly impact students in the school.

"There probably was a way to handle it with probably a little less pain."

Sarazan and Le are running for two, three-year terms on the board. Incumbent Bob Copp is also running for reelection for his seat, although he wasn't present during the designated North Hampton School Board debate period of Tuesday's event.

Sarazen, who has served on the school board for the six years, said one of his "concerns" is when new candidates make "hasty" calls for "change," which he said at times can "negatively impact students" rather than improve perceived deficiencies.

The comments weren't designed as a specific attack against Le, whose campaign signs state the board and town can "do better," although the comment did come after one of several moments of respectful back-and-forth commentary between the candidates.

"It's not taken lightly," said Sarazen of the proposal to cut the OT position, an suggestion which was prompted when the North Hampton Budget Committee requested a reduction. "Funds of that magnitude — to be challenged by the budget committee, to be challenged by the community — is going to inevitably impact salaries and [staff-related] budget lines."

The candidates were also asked during the forum what areas on which they would place a priority if confronted with a need to cut the budget. Both candidates said the town should be fiscally conservative and always look out for taxpayers, although both said that can't come at the expense of providing opportunities for student education or supporting the NHS staff.

Le said she thinks the "initial reaction is to go to salary lines" when faced with making a cut, and she said she would instead focus on finding areas without a "direct" to students to trim rather than finding something big to "whack" out of the budget.

"I think anything that interferes with a program in that regard would get my ire up," she said. "I think I would go to bat for things like that."

Sarazen said the district can "always do better" when it comes to providing for students and staff, both in terms of opportunity and funding, and Sarazen said he also wouldn't look to make a cut that would diminish student and staff ability.

He said he would apply his "open-minded" approach to all situations, which he said are all different and can't be planned through a "specific agenda" or a set cut mentality.

"We need to look at, 'What are the challenges that are facing the school at that particular time," said Sarazen.

Several Winnnacunnet School Board and Winnacunnet Budget Committee candidates also had a chance to speak and answer a brief question Tuesday night. Look for another story soon about that portion of the forum.