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Residents and finance-committee minutes prompt calls for audit and clearer special-education accounting
Summary
Multiple public commenters at the April 13 joint session pressed the council to review school finance-committee minutes, produce year-over-year delta reports, and investigate the special-education 207 cost center—alleged to fund over 40 FTEs and require transfers—before approving further budget commitments.
Several Portsmouth residents used the council's public-comment period on April 13 to press for greater transparency in school finances and to request an audit or more complete reporting on special-education funding.
Petra Huda, who presented minutes from the April 1 School Board Finance Committee, said the committee had asked for year-over-year delta reports and that those reports were not provided or contained errors. Huda said the 207 account for special education appeared to fund more than 40 full-time-equivalent positions and sometimes required transfers from the general fund to stay solvent. "Before making any decisions tonight, I urge the council to review these meeting minutes," she said, and asked that staffing costs be fully visible to both the school board and the council.
Esther Kennedy, who identified her professional experience in student services, warned that program development and on-site coordinators—not a single administrator—are central to keeping students in district and complying with IEP legal processes. Sue Palidora added that the budget lacked FY25 actuals necessary for proper year-over-year comparison and cautioned that sustained 6% run rates for school budgets are not affordable in the long term without structural changes.
City and school leaders did not dispute the need for clearer data; several officials said the district is moving to a unified ERP and that reconciliations and historical deltas have been challenging under current systems. No audit was ordered during the joint session. Councilors and staff acknowledged the concerns and said they would check minutes, reconciling reports and financial schedules as the board finalizes its recommendation.
Why it matters: public trust in budgeting depends on transparent, auditable figures. Petitioners pointed to specific reporting (delta reports, 207 cost-center transparency and reconciled staffing counts) that, if incomplete, hinder oversight and informed decisions about recurring programs and staff.
What to watch: whether the council or school board commissions a formal audit, releases the requested delta reports or provides reconciled 207-account staffing and transfer histories before final budget adoption.
