Half the State Rate, a Thirteen-Million-Dollar Gap: Manchester in Full

Manchester is New Hampshire’s largest school district — 11,865 students on the state’s October 1, 2024 count, across 20 schools — and today’s SAU Deep Dive puts its full profile in one place: the budget, the outcomes, and the published record. On the spring 2026 state assessments, 31 percent of Manchester students scored proficient or above in English, against 55 percent statewide, and 20 percent in math, against 44 percent statewide. Both subjects improved on 2025 — English was 28 percent, math 18 percent — but the level remains roughly half the state rate.

The graduation trend is the strongest good news in the profile. The class of 2025 graduated at 75.7 percent — 730 of 965 students — up from 67.8 percent for the class of 2021, though still well below the state’s 87.5 percent. Manchester educates the state’s highest-need population for less money: about 25 percent of students are identified for special education, cost per pupil in 2024–25 was $18,021 against a state average of $22,700, and this fall the district reported 20 open teacher positions, 11 of them in special education.

The fiscal 2027 budget is where the structure becomes visible. The district presented three numbers: a tax-cap figure of $235,507,700, a baseline of $251,405,787 that the superintendent said avoids cuts, and a fully funded figure of $265,290,787. The aldermen ultimately funded $238,492,749 — about $13 million below that stated baseline. The gap was closed with 41 eliminated positions and $10.1 million in one-time money, including $8.6 million that had been earmarked to lower bond interest on the new Beech Street Elementary School and $1.4 million from expendable trusts. Manchester voters also weighed in this week: Question 2, the statewide school tax cap proposal, failed in the city at 59.83 percent yes — a majority, but short of the 60 percent the law required — leaving the city’s own, stricter tax cap as the binding constraint.

The episode’s published-record segment reviews the three New Hampshire Department of Education complaint decisions naming Manchester that our search returned today: 25-041, substantiated as substantive, with compensatory education and mandated training ordered; 23-037, substantiated as procedural, with no denial of a free appropriate public education found; and 23-024, on transportation, unsubstantiated. Two statewide items remain open: the department’s annual restraint and seclusion report, due November 1 under state law, had still not appeared as of this morning, and its first fiscal 2028 adequacy aid estimates publish November 15.

Takeaway: One-time money for recurring costs works exactly once. Manchester closed this year’s gap with $10.1 million that cannot be spent twice — so watch four numbers next spring: the expendable trust balances, the specialized transportation line, the special education vacancy count, and whether the Beech Street interest earmark is restored. The November 15 adequacy estimates are the first real numbers of that fight.

Sources: New Hampshire Department of Education published state complaint decisions 25-041, 23-037, and 23-024; Manchester School District fiscal 2027 budget presentations and finance committee reports; spring 2026 state assessment and class of 2025 graduation figures as reported in today’s episode, which publishes its sources in its episode description.