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Heated hearing on proposal to consolidate SAUs and make county‑level elected superintendents
Summary
Representative Dan McGuire proposed HB 765 to consolidate New Hampshire’s SAUs into county or city units and to make superintendents elected county officials; proponents argued for efficiency and accountability, while superintendents, school boards and administrators warned of disconnection, operational risk and unanswered fiscal/legal questions.
Representative Dan McGuire presented HB 765, a sweeping structural proposal to reduce the number of school administrative units (SAUs) in New Hampshire and to make school superintendents elected county officials. McGuire framed the measure as an attempt to increase local control, reduce duplicated administrative costs and improve accountability by making the superintendent answerable directly to voters.
McGuire told the committee that the state’s current system — more than 100 SAUs — has produced low academic results despite rising per‑pupil spending and that consolidating administration and electing superintendents could deliver efficiencies and clearer local control. “What we have now is not working and… more money isn't solving the problem,” he said, arguing that county‑level SAUs could leverage economies of scale for…
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