Democratic hopeful for governor says school spending needs to be more efficient

MANCHESTER — Democratic candidate for governor Steve Marchand said education spending could be cut, yet he supports enhancing state aid grants to public schools.

The 42-year-old former Portsmouth mayor believes the issue helps define him as a fiscal conservative and social liberal.

“We can definitely spend money better. I also think we need to have additional revenue,” Marchand said during an interview at the New Hampshire Union Leader Thursday. “At the macro level, public school spending has automatically gone up and up, much of it for administrative costs that don’t support teaching in the classroom, Marchand said.

So while student enrollment is down 20 percent in New Hampshire since 2003, there’s been a 10 percent increase in the number of school districts over that same period.

Read more: http://www.unionleader.com/voters-first/Democratic-hopeful-for-governor-Marchand-says-school-spending-needs-to-be-more-efficient-08112016