Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
New Hampshire
How a school-choice request in N.H. led to questions about state board’s authority – The Boston Globe
“We didn’t want to do this,” Lempster Superintendent James M. Lewis said, “but this is the route we have available to us now.”
If the Lempster School District prevails, this dispute could help to clarify the limits of the state board’s authority, according to Barrett M. Christina, executive director of the New Hampshire School Boards Association.
And if the state’s legal team prevails?
“I think it would give the state board of education unfettered authority to overrule decisions made at the local level,” Christina said.
Last fall, Leite asked the Lempster School District to sign a tuition contract with Mount Royal Academy, a Catholic school in nearby Sunapee. That way, high school students from Lempster — which doesn’t have a high school of its own — could opt to attend the private school at taxpayer expense.
The district already has contracts with a few public high schools in the area. Leite sought to add Mount Royal to the menu of options. That has been permissible since 2021, when state law was changed to allow districts that lack a public school for a particular grade level to approve tuition contracts with private religious schools.
As of last spring, a couple of students were already attending Mount Royal through such a tuition arrangement with the town of Croydon, according to headmaster Derek Tremblay.
Lempster’s school board met with Mount Royal representatives in January to discuss Leite’s request, but decided in February not to pursue the contract, according to school board meeting minutes. The board voiced concerns about the narrower scope of services that Mount Royal provides, particularly with regard to special education.
“After all consideration, the board said, ‘You know … it doesn’t match with what we’re looking for,’” Lewis said. “And the board has that right.”
Leite, however, didn’t give up and filed the appeal.
The state scheduled hearings on the matter, but then the Lempster school board filed suit in April, claiming the state board has a pattern of asserting jurisdiction where it legally has none, forcing public schools to spend time and money on appellate processes that lack any basis in state law.
“Sometimes you have to say ‘no,’ and this is a situation where we’re not going to roll over,” Lewis said.
The presiding judge granted a preliminary injunction on July 30, with a ruling that suggests Lempster’s claims seem potentially persuasive.
State claiming very broad authority
Lawyers in the attorney general’s office, who represent the state board, have refuted the Lempster School District’s allegations. They argue state lawmakers clearly intended the state board to supervise, manage, and direct local school districts. They cite a law that gives the state board jurisdiction over a range of appeals.
One of those lawyers, Rory S. Miller, argued in a court filing in May that the state board has “complete authority” to act when disputes arise between individuals and school districts unless state law offers a specific command to the contrary. That, he added, means the state board has the discretion to direct public schools to approve tuition agreements with private schools on an appeal-by-appeal basis.
But that argument drew a skeptical line of questioning from Merrimack County Superior Court Judge Daniel I. St. Hilaire during a July 31 hearing on a motion to dismiss Lempster’s lawsuit.
“How can they upend a decision by a local school board and force them to enter into a contract?” he asked. “I don’t understand that.”
Miller replied that local school boards are subordinate entities that must obey the state board’s edicts. That’s how it’s been in New Hampshire for more than a century, he said.
St. Hilaire has yet to rule on the state’s motion to dismiss, but his order granting a preliminary injunction rebuffed key pieces of Miller’s case. He wrote that the Lempster School District can pursue contracts “in whatever way it wishes,” that the district was “under no obligation to comply with Leite’s request,” and that the attorney general’s office has cited laws that don’t actually give the state board authority to review this particular decision.
Christina, of the school boards association, said the state Board of Education clearly has legal authority to hear certain types of appeals, but the attorney general’s office is advancing an overbroad argument that would give the state board too much discretion.
Christina said the state board — all seven members were appointed by Republican Governor Chris Sununu and confirmed by the state’s five-member Executive Council — has taken an expansive view of its power in the past six or seven years. Members often seem to side with appellants just because they dislike what the local school board decided, he said.
“Anybody with any complaint seems to be getting their way, regardless of the merits or legalities of the case before the state board,” he said.
Andrew C. Cline, chairman of the state board, disputed that claim. He said the state board has ruled against parents several times because what they requested would have been inappropriate for the state board to impose.
“The board cannot and does not exceed the authority given to it by statute, and we consult with legal counsel in every contested case between a parent and school district to make sure we do not exceed our granted authority,” he said in an email.
Cline noted that parties can file an appeal in court if they believe the state board has overstepped.
But the appellate process itself can put resource-constrained school districts in a tough spot, Christina said.
“They can appeal an unfavorable decision from the state Board of Education, but that’s time, effort, money,” he said.
Religious discrimination not the crux
During the July 31 court hearing, Leite told the judge she assumes the Lempster school board’s refusal to ink a contract with a private religious school must be discriminatory and based on the board members’ personal beliefs.
But others said the school board members had asked questions and articulated concerns unrelated to Mount Royal’s religious affiliation.
“I don’t think the religion aspect had anything to do with it,” Superintendent Lewis told The Boston Globe.
Tremblay, the Mount Royal headmaster, said the Lempster school board members were “cordial” and “sincere” when he met with them in January.
“It seemed to me like they were asking all the questions that really mattered to them,” Tremblay told the Globe, “and I don’t remember religion being a dominating influence. … I don’t even remember the question being asked.”
Leite, who has not granted the Globe’s interview requests, also told the judge she doesn’t believe it’s necessary for her family to pursue any alternative funding arrangement, such as by asking for a “manifest educational hardship” exception or tapping into the state’s “education freedom accounts” program.
“I am not looking for any handouts,” she said.
Under the EFA program, a family that earns up to 350 percent of the federal poverty level — that’s about $109,000 for a family of four — can use money the state would have spent on their child’s public school education to cover costs associated with private school or home-schooling. That EFA funding averaged $5,235 per student last year, according to the New Hampshire Department of Education.
Tuition for high school students at Mount Royal will be $10,700 this school year, Tremblay said.
Parents who send their children to Mount Royal do so knowing the school doesn’t have the same level of resources they could find at a government-run school, Tremblay added. The academy doesn’t have a school psychologist or specialists in speech or occupational therapy, he noted.
“We will not be able to support as much as you could receive in a public school,” he said, “but we’re certainly willing to do everything we can.”
The dispute between the Lempster School District and the state board is happening as policymakers have debated whether and how to expand New Hampshire’s school-choice policies, while also grappling with court orders that deemed major components of the state’s overall school funding apparatus unconstitutional.
The leaders who voters select in November could bring big changes.
Sununu’s successor will decide who to appoint to the state board of education as incumbents finish their four-year terms.
Exactly how much power those appointees can wield over locally elected school officials could depend on how the courts decide Lempster’s case.
Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com. Follow him @reporterporter.
What employers are getting wrong, and how to fix it before it becomes a claim
New Hampshire’s employment law landscape heading into 2026 may not be dramatically different from last year, but the real risks lie in implementation missteps. From the initial setting of wages, to calculating and distributing wages, employers will likely find a specific statute and/or labor regulation governing the transaction. Failure to follow these detailed wage and hour laws can result in significant back wages and other penalties being imposed by the state or federal Department of Labor following an audit. Fortunately, however, this area of employment law is relatively easy to master, once you are familiar with the basics.
Notice compliance
One of the most common pitfalls for employers in New Hampshire is misunderstanding the wage and hour notice requirements under RSA 275 and the related New Hampshire Department of Labor Administrative Rules.
At the time of hire, employers must notify employees in writing of their rate of pay and the day and place of payment. This notice is traditionally delivered to employees by way of an offer letter or some sort of “New Hire Rate of Pay” form. (A sample form is available from the New Hampshire Department of Labor website.) What surprises most employers, however, is that Lab. 803.03(f)(6) also requires employers to request and obtain their employees’ signatures on this written notification of wages, and employers must keep a copy of the signed written notification of wages on file. Further, employers must notify employees in writing during the course of employment of any changes to wages or day of pay prior to such changes taking effect, and the employer must obtain the employee’s signature on this subsequent notification as well. (See RSA 275:49; Lab. 803.03.)
Employers are further required to notify employees in writing, or through a posted notice maintained in a place accessible to employees, of:
• employment practices and policies with regard to vacation pay, sick leave and other fringe benefits.
• deductions made from the employee’s payroll check, for each period such deductions are made.
• information regarding the deductions allowed from wage payments under state law. (RSA 275:49; Lab. 803.03.)
Policies regarding vacation and sick leave should inform employees whether or not the employer will “cash out” unused time at year end or at the end of employment, and if so, under what terms. Again, if any changes are made to vacation pay, sick leave and other fringe benefits during the course of employment (all of which are considered “wages” under New Hampshire law), employers must request and obtain their employees’ signatures on the written notification of the change, and must keep a copy of the signed form on file. (Lab. 803.03.) Importantly, notification by way of pay stub alone is not sufficient, and, these requirements apply to both increases and decreases in pay.
Two-hour minimum (reporting pay)
Another frequently overlooked obligation is New Hampshire’s two-hour minimum reporting pay requirement. Under RSA 275:43-a, non-exempt employees who report to work but are sent home early must generally be paid for at least two hours. Weather-related closures, client cancellations or operational slowdown days can trigger this rule. Employers should also note that the New Hampshire Department of Labor currently applies this law to remote-based employees. Consequently, employees who “report to work” at an employer’s request from a home office may likewise have a right to two hours of pay, depending on the circumstances.
Salaried vs. hourly employees
Misclassification of employees as exempt from overtime remains a significant source of compliance exposure. The position’s job duties — not the titles or label such as “salaried” — determine whether an employee qualifies for an overtime exemption.
Employers, particularly in nonprofits, health care and small businesses, unintentionally misapply exempt classifications to roles such as administrative staff, office managers, executive assistants, program coordinators or hybrid jobs that involve significant non-exempt tasks. Over time, as organizational needs evolve and employees take on broader responsibilities, job duties can drift outside of an exemption’s scope.
Best practice is to periodically review job descriptions and actual job duties to ensure continued compliance with exemption criteria, particularly following any significant restructuring or job redesigns.
Peg O’Brien is chair of McLane Middleton’s Employment Law Practice Group. She can be reached at margaret.o’brien@mclane.com.
Local News
“Our family wants to know what happened, who did this and why,” said the family of the victim.
A new photo has been released of the victim in a nearly 30-year-long unsolved murder case, in the hope of finding any new potential witnesses in the cold case, New Hampshire officials said.
“Our family wants to know what happened, who did this and why,” the family of Rosalie Miller said in a press release. “We miss her and want to give her peace.”
Miller was last seen on December 8, 1996 at her apartment in Manchester. At the time of her disappearance, Miller had plans on meeting friends in the Auburn, New Hampshire area, officials said.
Her body was found on January 20, 1997 in a partially wooded spot on a residential lot along the Londonderry Turnpike in Auburn, officials said in the release.
The autopsy report declared Miller’s death a homicide by asphyxiation due to ligature strangulation, N.H. officials wrote.
As part of a new effort to garner public help with the case, an “uncirculated” photo of Miller, 36, is being distributed “in hopes it may jog the memory of someone who saw or spoke with her in the winter of 1996,” Attorney General John M. Formella and New Hampshire State Police Colonel Mark B. Hall announced on behalf of the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit in a joint press release.
Investigators are especially hoping to talk to anyone who was in contact with Miller in December of 1996 or anyone “who may have seen her in the vicinity of the Londonderry Turnpike in Auburn during that time,” officials said in the release.
“We are releasing this new photograph today because we believe someone out there has information, perhaps a detail they thought was insignificant at the time, that could be the key to solving this case and bringing justice for Rosalie and those who loved her,” Senior Assistant Attorney General R. Christopher Knowles, New Hampshire Cold Case Unit Chief said in the release.
The New Hampshire Cold Case Unit encourages anyone with any amount of information to contact the group at [email protected] or (603) 271-2663.
News24 minutes ago
Supreme Court blocks redrawing of New York congressional map, dealing a win for GOP
West29 minutes ago
Oregon Dems block effort to alert ICE before illegal immigrant murderers are released
Midwest35 minutes ago
Terrifying moment caught on camera as road collapse suddenly swallows vehicles at busy intersection
Southwest42 minutes ago
Jasmine Crockett campaign reportedly kicked Atlantic writer out of rally for being a ‘top-notch hater’
Southeast47 minutes ago
Atlanta-area police blast parents over vodka martini packed in school lunch: ‘That is NOT apple juice’
Florida1 year ago
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Connecticut2 years ago
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
Oregon2 years ago
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
Virginia2 years ago
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana1 year ago
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
News24 minutes ago
Supreme Court blocks redrawing of New York congressional map, dealing a win for GOP
News10 hours ago
Map: Earthquake Shakes Central California
Politics11 hours ago
Gas prices could jump as Middle East tensions threaten global oil supply
World12 hours ago
Pakistan calls troops, orders 3-day curfew as 24 killed in pro-Iran rallies
News12 hours ago
US says Kuwait accidentally shot down 3 American jets
-
World5 days agoExclusive: DeepSeek withholds latest AI model from US chipmakers including Nvidia, sources say
-
Massachusetts5 days agoMother and daughter injured in Taunton house explosion
-
Denver, CO5 days ago10 acres charred, 5 injured in Thornton grass fire, evacuation orders lifted
-
Louisiana1 week agoWildfire near Gum Swamp Road in Livingston Parish now under control; more than 200 acres burned
-
Technology1 week agoYouTube TV billing scam emails are hitting inboxes
-
Politics1 week agoOpenAI didn’t contact police despite employees flagging mass shooter’s concerning chatbot interactions: REPORT
-
Technology1 week agoStellantis is in a crisis of its own making
-
News1 week agoWorld reacts as US top court limits Trump’s tariff powers