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Seacoast mayors, schools call for NH funds amid COVID crisis
New Hampshire mayors and school board chairs sent a joint letter to Gov. Chris Sununu and other state government leaders Thursday urging them to help municipalities across the state facing millions of dollars in uncontrollable cost increases.
The letter, which Rochester Mayor Caroline McCarley hinted was coming last week, states Granite State school districts fear they won’t be able to provide children with adequate public education due to things like state retirement system cost increases and various impacts and unintended consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“An accessible and properly funded public education is critical for the children of New Hampshire, and right now, our schools are communicating significant concerns,” reads the letter, which was signed by mayors and school board officials from Dover, Portsmouth, Rochester, Somersworth and seven other New Hampshire cities. “We hope that the Department of E
ROCHESTER New Hampshire’s mayors are working on a joint letter to Gov. Chris Sununu and the state’s education commissioner and congressional delegation to request they help cities and towns projecting they’ll be hit with millions of dollars of uncontrollable cost increases this fiscal year.
Rochester Mayor Caroline McCarley shared the news Tuesday during a meeting in which her city officials forecasted Rochester’s budget will increase by roughly $3.4 million due to state and federal costs.
“I don’t know that anyone will come of (the letter), but I just did want to let folks know we have been pretty actively engaged in trying to explain why,” McCarley told Rochester City Council’s Finance Committee during a meeting Tuesday night. “The arguments are being made, but we will have to track those very carefully.”