Mr. Teeboom
I’m not saying anybody is misappropriating the money. I’m saying there’s ways to handle it. There’s clever ways to
handle it; there’s good ways to handle it; and, accounting sound ways to handle it. | suggest you handle it in a
sound manner and not with a Spending Cap override legislation.
Department 191, School Department
Mr. Teeboom
| haven’t gone through every line item. I'll let the aldermen worry about that. First of all, I’d like to talk about charter
schools. There are stuck in the aldermanic chamber an ordinance, O-16-011, which provides some offset so charter
schools don’t have to pay tax revenue for the buildings they occupy. Public schools pay no taxes. Why are the
charter schools forced to pay taxes? Two aldermen that may very derogatory comments about the charter schools.
I’m not going to mention them by name. They know who they are. One is here, one is not here. Charter schools
are a terrific benefit to the taxpayer. | sent a message out to all the aldermen and the mayor about the savings.
There are 257 Nashua students in the Academy of Science and Design. There’s 464 Nashua students in all the
charter schools in the State of New Hampshire. If you look at the average cost per student in the public school, it is
$13,000 per student.
Chairman Dowd
I'll give you a little leeway but that’s not in the budget. If you want to continue, please try to relate on a question on
the budget.
Mr. Teeboom
$13,000 per student is part of the budget. The superintendent is now leaving. | hate to see him go because a few
years ago he recommended that within the public schools, the public school establish a public charter school. The
average cost for a charter school student is $6,000. You can do the calculation any number of ways. | presented
two ways to do the calculation. The charter schools save the taxpayers of Nashua $4.4 million just because the cost
of student is much lower, and the performance is outstanding. What is wrong with having a charter school within the
public school at a lower cost per student and get better performance and give them a shot at what they want to do.
This will pass the school board. It hasn’t been proposed to the new school board. To see two aldermen denigrate
charter schools say they suck off the money is just unforgivable and unacceptable. $4.4 million is nothing to sneeze
at. That could be a significant savings if you had more charter school kids in a public school that was a charter
school. The other comment is the school board has looked at the custodial contract and privatizing. They seem to
have gotten caught up in a labor relations argument, but the savings range, and I’m looking at the school’s
information, from $600,000 up to $3.5 million. A big savings. When you look at a budget, you have to do more than
play a percentage game. You've got to think outside the box. For instance, why do we still have secretaries in the
schools? | would question, and | have grandkids in the public school in the high school, why do we still have
guidance counselors? The function of guidance counselors is to guide not psychological or sociological problems
but to guide them in coursework to prepare them for college. You can do that on the computer. You can do that on
your cellphone. We've got 30 guidance counselors in the school. |I’d rather defer the charter question to the
superintendent. I'll leave it up to you, Mr. Chair, who addresses the custodial. Both are significant cost savings
thinking out of the box. As a taxpayer, as a member of the public at this public hearing, I’d like to know why isn’t the
school board pursuing these cost savings. Charter school first and then the custodial contract.
Chairman Dowd
Would the superintendent want to address that?
Mark Conrad, Superintendent of Schools
Quite honestly, | don’t think it’s my role here to wage into the debate on charter schools. It’s not part of our budget.
For the record, | would note there are two areas where public school systems under New Hamnpshire law do have
responsibility for providing services to charter schools, which is one of the reasons their cost is somewhat less.
First, we’re responsible for providing transportation for any charter school student who lives in Nashua and is
