Concord Board Of Education Approves New Rundlett Middle School Proposal By 8-1 Vote

CONCORD, NH — Despite a lack of state aid and prior promises not to build a new middle school, the SAU 8 board of education voted 8-1 on Thursday night to build a new Rundlett Middle School.

Barbara Higgins, the longest-serving board member, was the lone vote against the proposal, although she supported the effort to do something with the school.

The school, which has a price tag of around $156 million, with a final cost, including interest payments, of between $232 million and $285 million, will be the most expensive school project in New Hampshire history. Interest rates, estimated to be between 4 percent and 4.5 percent, as well as the amount of the district’s reserve fund to be used for the project, will determine the final cost. An estimated $20 million was previously in the reserves.

No state aid is included in the package, as none was funded for the 2026-2027 biennium.

School board members, including those serving now, previously told the public there would be no middle school without state aid. Prior school boards, after the $90.8 million elementary school project, which taxpayers will be paying for through 2041, also promised there would be no middle school until that bond was paid off.

Taxpayers are still paying for the 1996 renovation and expansion of Rundlett Middle School, despite voting Thursday to demolish the school.

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Several Rundlett teachers, including some who do not live in the city and will not have to pay for the new school, were in attendance, wearing blue T-shirts in support of a new building.

State law requires organized groups involved in political activity to file expense and organization reports before spending money on political lobbying or petitioning on public policy. The new president of the Concord Education Association did not return an email seeking comment and Patch was unable to confirm on the record whether the union was actively or loosely involved in the effort to push for a new quarter-billion-dollar school.

While the sentiment of the dozens of people in attendance was in favor of a new school, according to a Concord Monitor story, many more residents opposed it, posting online on Nextdoor and Facebook. Members of the Concord Concerned Citizens said they have been writing dozens and dozens of letters for months opposing a new school, but their letters and attendance at prior meetings to push their points were ignored at the public hearing.

Concord TV has the nearly three-hour meeting posted here on YouTube.

According to previous timeline projections, the district hopes to start early construction in April 2026.

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