MANCHESTER, N.H. – It was a night that no one on the Manchester Board of School Committee (BOSC) was looking forward to, but it was a moment that would have had to happen eventually given the Manchester School District’s (MSD) current budgetary realities.
The BOSC gathered on Monday, May 19 for a special meeting to discuss budgetary next steps on what reductions should be made to bridge the approximately $9.5 million gap between the MSD’s proposed Fiscal Year 2026 budget bottom line they recommended to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen and the budget that the Board of Mayor and Aldermen ultimately approved.
Following an overview of MSD Superintendent Dr. Jenn Chmiel’s recommendations, BOSC members provided their input on what reductions should be made, reminding the board that reducing grant-funded items would not impact the $9.5 million gap given that the funding comes from a different revenue source and that certain reductions can’t be made due to contractual agreements.
Under the recommendations, which Chmiel stressed were not in the best interest of the school district and represented the best of a bad situation, 22 educational positions were set to be eliminated along with eight district staff positions, all of which would likely come from retiring staff members whose positions would not be refilled or vacant positions that have remained vacant due to a lack of applicants.
MSD Chief Financial Officer Karen DeFrancis took a list of the feedback from the board and heard a consensus for removing freshman high school sports teams, not moving forward with the proposed tap-on bus pass program, pausing expansion of middle school sports, asking the city government to take over the elementary school basketball program and not removing several academic coaches at the middle school level. That initial reductions came out to approximately $105,000. There was also a broad consensus that a $4 million custodial contract with Aramark had been a disappointment, but it was unclear how much of that amount could be reduced or renegotiated.
Beyond that, opinions varied on what to do next. Some members of the board felt that recent expansions of middle school unified sports, which allow special needs children the opportunity to play sports, should not be touched. Ward 7 BOSC Member Chris Potter believed middle school sports expansion should continue given the impact of physical activity on developing minds.
Ending bus transportation for students living within two miles of schools was revisited as a possible option to save, although this idea did not gain traction due to the likely impact on attendance.
There was also discussion about looking into expanding the amount of retirement buyouts for staff members who are close to retirement age but have not reached that threshold yet.
Another factor is the use of one-time rainy day funds to limit the amount of staff positions impacted, with $3.8 million recommended in addition to the $4.5 million within the initially proposed budget that did not meet Aldermanic approval. It was indicated that if the rainy day fund gets too low, it could impact the district’s ability to compensate for emergencies or obtain favorable bonding rates.
Ward 9 BOSC Member Bob Baines was perplexed as to why the school district should be required to use these emergency funds to fill its budget when the city government did not need to use such budgetary tactics for things like the police budget or the fire department budget.
He went as far to ask Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais why the Board of Mayor and Aldermen exhibit such animus toward the school board, with Ruais recommending that the BOSC engage in budget discussions with their Aldermanic counterparts as early in the year as possible to help increase communication.
Baines repeated concern stated by Ward 11 BOSC Member Liz O’Neal earlier this month that this painful process could dissuade potential job applicants and cause a morale problem among district staff, echoing what could be construed as low morale displayed by the BOSC during Monday night’s meeting and recent meetings as well.
Indeed, Monday night’s discussion was something that no one wanted, even if it was approached in different ways. Ward 12 BOSC Member Carlos Gonzalez said despite the situation, he trusted Chmiel and Ruais and noted that the needs of property tax payers need to be balanced with the needs of the school district and that trust needed to be built between the BOSC and Aldermen in the future.
Other BOSC members repeated their frustration with the situation occurring in the first place. Ward 1 BOSC Member Julie Turner felt like she had misunderstood Ruais’ discussions related to the budget earlier in the year and stated that she did not expect this result to happen given the information she had seen.
BOSC Vice Chair Jim O’Connell went further, attacking the mayor for his stances this year in the budgetary process that led to the $9.5 million gap existing.
“I know there’s no upside with picking a fight with the mayor, if I could avoid it then I would, but let’s call it as it is,” O’Connell said.
Echoing comments from last week, Ruais took umbrage with O’Connell’s comments stating that some aldermen are opposed to the concept of public schools and that they verbally attacked MSD leaders, stating that such statements make it impossible to gain support for the school budget among the Aldermen.
O’Connell doubled down on his assertion that several aldermen have been vocal publicly about their non-support for the school district and echoed O’Neal’s morale concern, stating that Manchester needs to follow the lead of other New Hampshire cities, like Nashua and Concord, that are investing in their schools. He also echoed Chmiel’s statements that this situation could undo progress made over the last several years.
He added several additional ideas in the hope of saving jobs such as reducing the district’s school resource officer contract with the Manchester Police Department, reducing delayed maintenance funding, investigating lunch prices and looking at the closure of two Manchester high schools in the near future.
Baines agreed that examination of the district’s high school footprint had become an urgent matter due to the budgetary situation, but Chmiel strongly recommended against closing high schools in the next year due to the disruption that it would cause students and the expected study of high school options coming in the next few months.
O’Connell also attempted to make a motion to agree upon the reductions mentioned by DeFrancis where the board seemed to have gained consensus, but it was determined that finalizing those reductions before more thorough reductions that could not be discussed in public session would be premature.
The board went into non-public session at approximately 9 p.m., two hours after the meeting began.
UPDATE: 7:45 a.m, 5/20/25 – The BOSC voted to accept the consensus mentioned by DeFrancis, minus Elementary School sports. The board also voted to preserve freshman sports.
