Committee of Conference backs Senate method for ‘average cost per pupil,’ adds ‘preceding year’ clarification

The Committee of Conference on House Bill 557 agreed to keep the Senate’s method for calculating the average cost per pupil to appear on school budget ballots and to add a clarification that the figure will reflect the preceding year.

Members said the change keeps a single, uniform definition across RSA citations and avoids creating two competing calculations for the same ballot item. "This amendment came about as a result of testimony the senate received at its hearing," Senator Murphy said. "Essentially, the senate position is that it makes sense to calculate this number across the RSAs in a similar method as opposed to having different methods."

The core disagreement was procedural and technical: the House favored a simple, easily explained arithmetic — total budget divided by enrollment — while the Senate relied on the definition in RSA 189.75, which excludes some expenditures such as tuition, transportation and food operations from the measure. Representative Cordelli said the House’s position was that the simple division is easier for voters to calculate in their heads. "The general public is looking at the bottom line and dividing it by the number of students," Cordelli said. "They're not taking away transportation, they're not taking tuition, they're not taking food because they don't know how to find those numbers."

House members argued the RSA-based definition could undercount costs presented to voters and create confusion between the ten‑year historical posters districts must show and the forward‑looking ballot figure. Senator Murphy and other senators said they did not want two different statutory definitions for the same term and that the RSA definition was about to take effect; they were open, however, to a limited drafting clarification. The conference reached agreement to adopt the Senate position with an amendment specifying the average cost per pupil will be "for the preceding year as calculated in accordance with 189.751(a)."

Participants said the conference report will be drafted to incorporate that amendment and returned for signatures. The committee recorded general assent to proceed with the senate text as amended, though one member indicated they could not support the final signoff at that moment and the chairs said they would prepare the finalized language for signature.

Next steps: staff will draft the conference report reflecting the Senate position plus the added phrase clarifying the figure refers to the preceding year; members anticipate further review next year if a broader change to RSA 189.75 is desired.