Portsmouth council hears that teacher contract and special-education costs push school spending above 2.9% guidance

Portsmouth City Council members and school officials on May 19 discussed how ratified labor agreements and rising special-education costs would change the school department’s proposed increase and the citywide budget.

Deputy City Manager for Finance Administration Nathan said the city estimates the tentative teachers’ contract would cost “approximately $900,000” and that the library contract is roughly $34,000; both fit inside the city’s $1,990,000 collective-bargaining contingency, he said. “If you add $900,000 to [the school manager’s] $1,850,000, that would put you at $2,750,000, which would be a 4.3 percent increase year over year in the school department,” Nathan said.

The council opened a public hearing on the budget and then received multiple public comments—from parents, school-board members and residents—urging additional school staffing and support for mental-health and special-needs services. “Anything lower than 4 percent is a reduction in services,” Brides (spelled in transcript as Bridal) French, vice chair of the school board, said during public comment in support of the school-board-recommended budget.

School and city officials clarified how collective-bargaining costs move from the contingency into department budgets: once contracts are ratified and the fiscal year begins, the city said, contingency dollars would be transferred to the school department and library to fund the negotiated increases and associated employer costs (taxes and retirement).

Councilors and staff also discussed a $689,188 difference between the city manager’s proposed school budget and the school board’s recommended budget. Nathan said adding that amount to the city manager’s numbers and the tentative contracts would raise the total city budget increase to about 3.95 percent overall and would raise the school department’s standalone year-over-year increase to roughly 5.37 percent when combined with the $900,000 estimate.

Councilors repeatedly pressed for clarity about special-education costs and out-of-district placements. Superintendent McLaughlin (Dr. McLaughlin) and school staff explained that tuition and special-education funding arrangements vary by sending districts and by placement: when a Portsmouth student is placed in an out-of-district program, the administrative structure of the SAU (cooperative school administrative unit) can change billing and responsibility. Lee Hudson, a school-board member, noted that students with disabilities make up a growing share of the student body and that out-of-district placements, while small in count, carry high per-student costs.

On related items, the council scheduled a public hearing and vote for June 9 to authorize repurposing $551,638 in previously authorized bond proceeds (savings from the RJ Lister Academy fit-out) toward districtwide school security upgrades; city staff said district officials Dr. McLaughlin and Brian Cisneros would present details at that hearing.

Councilors approved the tentative three-year agreement with the Association of Portsmouth Teachers at the meeting; the library employees’ tentative agreement was also approved. City staff reiterated that the ratified contracts will be reflected as transfers from the collective-bargaining contingency into operating department budgets after July 1.

The council continued the budget public hearing to its June 9 meeting so councilors could receive more information and finalize deliberations.

For now, the council’s actions leave open how much of the school-board‑recommended increases the city will fund; final budget votes and the planned June 9 public hearings will determine whether the manager’s guidance target of 2.9 percent holds.