The Students First Act, effective since last July, states that seven days before the voters adopt a school budget, districts must post line graphs showing 10-year changes in their cost-per-pupil, average teacher pay, and administrator salaries. These graphs “must be posted in at least 3 appropriate places, 2 of which must be places of business or other public locations.” The third location can be a newspaper or the district website.
With budget votes approaching, some school districts in New Hampshire, such as Epsom and Northwood (SAU 44), are violating the Students First Act by posting charts not in compliance with the law’s standards. RSA 189:76, the section on “Mandatory Report to Voters” of the Students First Act, lays out the requirements for the public displays. The statute requires that “the upper and lower boundaries of the y-axis must be capped at the nearest hundred thousand dollars.” By illegally cranking up their y-axes to downplay the increase in admin pay, districts are misrepresenting the severity of these numbers to taxpayers.
When you see these charts, be cautious and evaluate them thoroughly. With large y-axes, huge percentage increases in pay on these charts visually don’t look so bad. Citizens must be aware of the specific requirements in section 189:76 in order to keep their districts accountable and get the information they deserve.
Legally, you have a lot of power to promote transparency and hold these districts accountable. Here’s what you should do:
- Review the law here.
- Contact your school board and ask where the report is physically posted. The law requires the charts to be displayed in two physical public locations.
- Verify that your school is posting accurate graphs. Check for graphs that look like this example here.
Some ways in which school districts are cheating and manipulating the data:
- Including only several years of data on the charts, rather than the required 10 years.
- Distorting the y-axis of their graphs to downplay the increase in administrator pay and per-pupil cost. Here are the y-axis requirements.
Ideally, creating enough public attention about faulty charts will pressure school districts into complying with the law without anyone even needing to go into court.
However, if you find that your school district is in violation of the law, you have the right to go into court and block your district’s upcoming budget vote until they comply with the law. Your attorney’s fees must be paid by the district if you prevail.