MANCHESTER — School district officials insist they provided all the information requested by the University of New Hampshire to participate in a federally funded program to improve the teaching of English language learners.

Manchester lost out to the Nashua School District, which will be partnering with UNH on the $1.8 million, five-year program.

Manchester Superintendent Thomas Brennan told the Board of School of Committee on Monday that the district lost because UNH officials thought Nashua was a better candidate, not because officials failed to complete the necessary paperwork, as some committee members suggested.

Brennan said the district began coordinating with UNH officials last spring to put together an application for the program, which he said Manchester has participated in over the past five years.

“I believe that they were disappointed in our progress on the grant,” he said.

Brennan supplied the committee with a timeline of events related to the grant application, providing dates for when it furnished information requested of UNH.

According to the document, a UNH official wrote in a May 11, 2011 email: “I don't think we had enough time to get the buy-in we needed from principals and schools to make it a stronger contender — given the high competition this year.”

Manchester and Nashua were vying for a National Professional Development to train and certify more teachers in English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), particularly those teaching math and science. In May, UNH announced that it would be partnering with Nashua on the program.

tsiefer@unionleader.com