By Rhianwen Watkins, Granite State News Collaborative

What is a school board?

Each of New Hampshire’s 162 public school districts has its own school board, which is the legislative body responsible for making decisions, on a local level, regarding the district’s K-12 schools. 

A school board has three jobs, according to Dover school board member Micaela Demeter: to hire the superintendent; write and adopt policies for the school district; and set the district’s budget. School board members are elected for two- or three-year  terms.

New Hampshire has over 900 elected school board members collectively, ranking the N.H. School Boards Association as one the largest groups of elected officials in New Hampshire.

How can I find out if there are school board elections this year in my district?

Many cities in New Hampshire hold their school board elections in November. Most towns hold their elections in March. However, some districts hold elections at other times throughout the year as well. Not all districts hold an election every year either, as it depends on when a member has a term that is up for either re-election or to be replaced by a new candidate in the running.

Demeter explained that sometimes members on a board will all have the same termination date in order to elect a “clean slate” each election. This is the case in Dover. However, other boards will have staggered termination dates to “ensure that you don't have a complete or large turnover from term to term,” she said. 

The most common way to find out if your town or city is holding a school board election, is by visiting your town or city council website. If it is, there is often a sample ballot on the website which will list all board members running for election and re-election.

What is an SAU board?

SAU stands for School Administrative Unit. SAUs hold a different set of responsibilities than school boards. They oversee the business and administrative operations of each district and school board in their respective units.  These operations include managing employee benefits of educators and school personnel for the district, bookkeeping and accounting, as well as overseeing curriculum requirements across all member districts.

What is the debate over SAUs?

In past decades, changes have been made to the SAU system, which have raised questions about the role of SAUs.

A major shift in 1987 included the elimination of a maximum of 60 SAUs allowed in New Hampshire, causing districts to form new SAUs. Another shift came in 1996 with the elimination of the requirement for districts to get permission from the Department of Education before leaving an SAU and joining a new one.

Since the 1980s, the number of SAUs in New Hampshire has risen from 53 to 105, despite a decline over time in the number of school-aged children residing in New Hampshire. These changes have resulted in a large number of SAUs only having one school or district within them, sparking the question of whether SAUs are necessary at this point, and whether New Hampshire should allow districts to choose not to be a part of an SAU.

Arguments in favor of this include the idea that school boards could take on the jobs of the SAU fairly easily, and the possibility that it could save taxpayers money by eliminating the need for SAU employees and facilities.

However, others argue that SAUs provide important leadership roles and maintain a level of accountability. People who feel this way sometimes argue SAUs should go back to requiring multiple districts beneath them, which could facilitate more sharing of educational approaches and resources.

Demeter feels SAUs serve an important purpose in maintaining economies of scale.

“In New Hampshire, we have some districts that have just a couple dozen students in the entire town. So in districts like that, the SAU model allows for different, smaller communities to work together,” she said, “Because it is expensive to have a curriculum director. It's expensive to have a superintendent, an assistant superintendent, a facilities director – you know, all of these administrative level positions.”

These, and others, are SAU positions that make district-level decisions. People are hired into these positions, as opposed to elected by the community. 

The Know Your Vote, youth voter guide  project was designed, reported and produced by student and young professional journalists from The Clock,The Concord Monitor, The Equinox, Granite State News Collaborative, Keene State College, The Laconia Daily Sun, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Nashua Ink Link and The Presidency and the Press program at Franklin Pierce University. See the full guide at  www.collaborativenh.org/know-your-vote.