2026 SAU 21 Article 1 Operating Budget of $32,803,073 versus Default Budget of $32,469,395

Shall the School District raise and appropriate as an operating budget, not including appropriations by special warrant articles and other appropriations voted separately, the amounts set forth on the budget posted with the warrant or as amended by vote of the first session, for the purposes set forth therein, totaling $32,803,073. Should this article be defeated, the default budget shall be $32,469,395, which is the same as last year, with certain adjustments required by previous action of the School District or by law; or the governing body may hold one special meeting, in accordance with RSA 40:13, X and XVI to take up the issue of a revised operating budget only.

Note:  Hampton is responsible for 47.23% of the SAU 21 budget, calculated based on both property valuation and student enrollment.

What it means: The Proposed Operating Budget is $32,803,073, which is an increase of 1.76% over last year’s budget (+$566,343). It is $333,678 higher than the default budget of $32,469,395.  There were factors that contributed to lower expenses as well as factors that brought the budget higher, as outlined on the next page.

 The following budget drivers resulted in reductions to the SAU 21 operating budget:

• Personnel Reduction – Proposed reduction of 3.0 FTE teacher positions (retirements).

• Special Education Tuition – Decrease in out-of-district placement costs due to changing student needs.

• Special Education Transportation – Decrease in specialized transportation due to changing student needs.

• Contracted Services – Reduction in ESOL services based on decrease in student needs.

• General reductions – Prioritized departmental requests on all discretionary accounts to reduce costs.

The following budget drivers resulted in increases to the SAU 21 operating budget:

• Salary Adjustments – Contractual obligations for SEA and SESPA union members as well as non-union staff, including cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) and step increases.

• Health Insurance– Increases resulting from funding level changes, and employee plan election changes.

• Cost Escalation– Inflationary increases across multiple operational accounts.

• Vocational Program – Cost increases due to higher participation levels and tuition rate increase.

• Student Activities – Investment supplies, registration, competition entry fees for new robotics program.

Those in favor say: The Board and staff worked hard to keep expenses reasonable for taxpayers. The budget as presented, while higher than last year, follows the ’25-26 budget that decreased from spending for ’24-’25.

Those Against Say:  No one spoke against this Article at the SAU 21 Deliberative Session.

Fiscal Impact: For a Hampton property valued at $600,000, the added tax would be  $26.35  (Hampton’s 47.23% of the cost).