Clear Rules, Fair Processes: Two New Laws under HB 1267 and HB 1184 Reshape School Governance in NH
September 13, 2026
New Hampshire lawmakers sent a clear message this year about the importance of fair, transparent school governance when they overwhelmingly overrode Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s vetoes of two education and governance related bills: HB 1267 regarding the secret questioning of students by non-school personnel and HB 1184 regarding no trespass orders on public properties. On August
Webinar: 2026 Education and Governance Legislative Updates
August 11, 2026
Several major New Hampshire education‑governance reforms were recently signed into law, strengthening transparency, budget discipline, and voter access across school districts. The package includes HB 1300, which places a local school property‑tax cap question on the November ballot; HB 564, which adds structure and accountability to SAU budget development; HB 1807, which modernizes and improves
Separate SAU Budget Is Law
June 20, 2026
Governor Ayotte signed HB 564 into law “relative to the adoption of school administrative unit budgets” HB 564 Prime Sponsor Chairman Vose and Co-Sponsors Rep. Andrus, Rep. Harvey-Bolia, Rep. Pauer, Rep. Sellers, Rep. Sheehan, Rep. Creighton, Sen. Avard, Sen. Ward Great news from Concord: Governor Kelly Ayotte has signed HB 564, relative to the adoption
NH School Districts Cheated on Their Mandatory Reports
May 5, 2026
Thanks to a new law, (RSA 189:75-78) school districts are required to post a report showing standardized graphs of their 10-year spending trends broken down by cost-per-pupil, teacher pay, and administrator salaries. In many cases, these graphs tell a different story from that being told taxpayers by the district, which has led to cheating. “In
Making 2009-2025 Public Education Proficiency and Assessment Data Easily Available to All
April 20, 2026
Eric Pauer, SDGA President SDGA is working to help make the proficiency and achievement results more accessible to all via our SDGA consolidated spreadsheet. The NH Department of Education (DoE) publishes proficiency and achievement results for each school district and grade, for each school year on its website (link). This data is presented by year
Webinar: Public Education State and Local Funding – How Does It Work?
March 26, 2026
Public education in NH is largely funded locally, with local control, but with many different types of state aid. Adequacy aid and special education aid are the main components, but there are others like building aid. Adequacy aid in itself has many different components. This webinar will provide more details on how public education, state
Strengthening Lease Laws to Safeguard Local Tax Dollars
March 24, 2026
Op-Ed written by Eric Pauer Key Takeaways Lease agreements are widely used by towns and school districts across New Hampshire. Most commonly, municipalities lease heavy equipment, police cruisers, and fire trucks. These equipment leases fall under RSA 33:7‑e, which requires an escape (non‑appropriation) clause allowing the municipality to terminate the lease without penalty by returning
Webinar: ABCs of School Boards 2026
January 27, 2026
Jody Underwood, Ph.D., long-serving member of the Croydon School Board and pioneering advocate for school tuitioning liberalization, explains the structure of school districts and the basic responsibilities of school board members. This introduction is intended for those thinking about running for school board, or school board members who are getting mixed messages about or who
2025 Local Tax Caps, Budget Caps, and Petition Warrant Articles
October 27, 2025
On October 21, SDGA held a comprehensive webinar on local tax caps, school district budget caps, town budget caps, and petition warrant articles.  During the 2025 legislative session, the General Court passed and the Governor signed several important improvements to the local tax cap and school district budget cap, making them more attractive, and also created the
SDGA Alert – Legislative Changes This Year You Need to Know
October 5, 2025
New laws have recently gone into effect that can help improve your school districts (and towns). RSA 186:11, X(a) “Certification of teachers, supervisors, and administrators in the public schools ” – This common sense law requires those seeking an initial license for administrator, teacher, instructional specialist or educational specialist to obtainpassing scores on professional education