A Deep Dive into Concord's Per Student Spending

Proponents of the Concord School Board’s unique fiscal autonomy often argue that eliminating it would jeopardize the quality and cost-effectiveness of our district’s education. For example, in an October 2nd opinion piece The Concord Monitor, the author defended the school board’s autonomy, stating, "On the issue of taking away the School Board’s fiscal autonomy, I believe that would be a disaster. We need only look to Manchester, where with the Board of Aldermen in control of the district’s budget, school infrastructure fell into terrible disrepair."

This is a selective comparison. The idea that Concord will "end up like Manchester" without fiscal autonomy sounds like fear-mongering. Why not compare Concord to Hopkinton or Bow, where school budgets require voter approval at town meetings? Both districts are highly regarded, and many families intentionally move there for the schools. In fact, Concord's school budget autonomy is entirely unique. Rather than selectively choosing other districts for comparison, it’s more accurate to examine all similarly sized districts in New Hampshire.

First, it's important to note that, as a state, New Hampshire ranks 7th in the nation for per-student spending. According to the most recent New Hampshire Department of Education report, Concord spent $22,190 per student—about 9% higher than the state average. Notably, spending in Concord was much higher at the elementary level ($26,059 vs. the state average of $20,901) but slightly below average at the high school level ($18,856 vs. $19,918). A disclaimer in the report suggests that this discrepancy may have more to do with how costs are allocated than with actual differences in resources. Still, the pattern is unusual and worth investigating. You would expect per-student spending, as compared to the average, to be more consistent across grade levels.

Since there are nearly 100 school districts in New Hampshire, many of them small, it's more appropriate to compare Concord to districts of similar size. Among the ten largest districts, Concord ranks first in per-student spending, exceeding the next-highest district (Merrimack) by over 10%. I also examined how Concord ranks in the Niche school rankings. Concord placed 27th out of 90 districts statewide and 7th among the ten largest districts. While these rankings provide some insight, they’re far from definitive. Much of the ranking is based on test scores, which are closely tied to household income, raising the question of whether they measure school quality or the wealth of the town. Nevertheless, they are worth considering.

NEW HAMPSHIRE'S TEN LARGEST SCHOOL DISTRICTS

District	Enrollment	Per-Student Spending	Niche Ranking (out of 90)
Concord	3,933	$22,190	27
Merrimack	3,526	$20,093	31
Londonderry	3,996	$20,054	14
Timberlane	3,282	$20,012	26
Salem	3,536	$18,476	17
Nashua	9,772	$18,107	22
Rochester	3,796	$17,424	60
Bedford	4,065	$17,418	5
Dover	3,580	$16,847	21
Manchester	11,851	$16,636	58

Notes: The enrollment and per-student spending numbers are from the 2022-23 school year, the most recent year available. Per-student spending varies from the numbers described in my earlier blog post because that analysis looked at total appropriations, while the state published numbers only include operating expenses and exclude various other expenses. The Niche rankings are from the current year.

Given these numbers, it’s fair to ask: when compared to other large school districts, why does Concord spend significantly more but achieve only average results? There may be perfectly valid explanations, but anomalies in the data often prompt important questions. As the saying goes, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” If these spending and ranking figures don’t accurately reflect the cost-effectiveness and value of the Concord School District, we need to understand why—and what other metrics could provide better insights into managing the district. If elected, these are the types of questions I will be asking.

There is no proof that Concord's autonomous system is conclusively responsible for higher spending and average results—there are too many variables for a simple answer. However, it’s a hypothesis worth exploring. On the flip side, the argument that eliminating fiscal autonomy would cause the district to crumble is without merit. Many districts without this system perform well, and there is no reason to think Concord wouldn’t thrive under a more common governance structure.