Bill > HB564

This bill revises the process for adopting school administrative unit (SAU) budgets, which are the budgets for shared services and administration among multiple school districts. It removes an alternative budget adoption procedure (RSA 194-C:9-b) and clarifies that single-district SAUs are exempt from certain requirements of the chapter but must still adopt a budget and hold public hearings. For SAUs with two or more districts, the bill mandates that the SAU budget be presented as a separate warrant article at each constituent school district's annual meeting, with specific wording for the article that includes the previous year's adjusted budget as a fallback if the proposed budget doesn't pass. The bill also establishes a new section for handling unassigned funds at the end of the fiscal year, requiring them to be returned to constituent school districts based on the same apportionment method used for raising funds. Finally, it repeals the old alternative budget adoption procedures and clarifies that the changes to budget caps apply retroactively.