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August 01. 2012 12:14AM
Manchester aldermanic committee rejects ballot question on making school district a city department
MANCHESTER — An aldermen’s committee on Tuesday voted to reject a ballot question to make the school district a city department.
The proposal will still go before the full board next week, despite the recommendation of the majority on the Administration/Information Systems Committee that it be “received and filed” — in other words, that it go no further.
The amendment to the city charter was proposed by Alderman Jim Roy, who said it would help the city better deal with perennial problems in the school budgeting process.
However, committee member Dan O’Neil said making the district a city department would do little to address tensions between the aldermen and school committee.
“The power the school board and the School Administrative Unit have is still going to exist under state law, and we’re going to have to hire staff to deal with that,” O’Neil said, adding, “I don’t know what they’re going do to improve communication between the Mayor and Board of Aldermen and the school committee.”
Roy said making the school district a city department would promote more accountability. “Every department head has to be there at the meetings,” he said, unlike the school superintendent.
More important, Roy said, residents had already voted in favor a nearly identical charter amendment in 2001, only to have it challenged by the school board. It was only fair to give them another chance to vote on the proposal, Roy said.
The aldermen have already voted to place a question on the September primary ballot to form a charter commission, which would review and propose changes to the city’s basic laws to be voted on in the subsequent election. In the past, the commission has proposed making the school district a city department.
O’Neil argued that Roy’s proposed amendment would preempt this process.
Even if the full board votes to put the amendment on the ballot at its next meeting Aug. 7, there will still have to be a public hearing on the proposal, and it will have to be vetted by the Secretary of State’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office, according to City Clerk Matt Normand.
tsiefer@unionleader.com
The proposal will still go before the full board next week, despite the recommendation of the majority on the Administration/Information Systems Committee that it be “received and filed” — in other words, that it go no further.
The amendment to the city charter was proposed by Alderman Jim Roy, who said it would help the city better deal with perennial problems in the school budgeting process.
However, committee member Dan O’Neil said making the district a city department would do little to address tensions between the aldermen and school committee.
“The power the school board and the School Administrative Unit have is still going to exist under state law, and we’re going to have to hire staff to deal with that,” O’Neil said, adding, “I don’t know what they’re going do to improve communication between the Mayor and Board of Aldermen and the school committee.”
Roy said making the school district a city department would promote more accountability. “Every department head has to be there at the meetings,” he said, unlike the school superintendent.
More important, Roy said, residents had already voted in favor a nearly identical charter amendment in 2001, only to have it challenged by the school board. It was only fair to give them another chance to vote on the proposal, Roy said.
The aldermen have already voted to place a question on the September primary ballot to form a charter commission, which would review and propose changes to the city’s basic laws to be voted on in the subsequent election. In the past, the commission has proposed making the school district a city department.
O’Neil argued that Roy’s proposed amendment would preempt this process.
Even if the full board votes to put the amendment on the ballot at its next meeting Aug. 7, there will still have to be a public hearing on the proposal, and it will have to be vetted by the Secretary of State’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office, according to City Clerk Matt Normand.
tsiefer@unionleader.com