The same day that word leaked of a possible $4 million bailout loan for the Claremont School District, Vice Chair Frank Sprague abruptly resigned, declaring he could no longer work with the “architects of this disaster.”
“I can’t work with these people. I don’t have any confidence in what they say,” Sprague told NHJournal, blaming Business Administrator Mary Henry and Superintendent Chris Pratt for overspending and recordkeeping failures that left the district millions of dollars in the red.
“Their 2025 budget, it was like teenagers with dad’s credit card,” Sprague said.
News of Sprague’s resignation broke the same day teachers were told the district had secured a $4 million loan from Claremont Savings Bank to keep schools afloat. Assistant Superintendent Michael Koski emailed staff Wednesday morning to say the money was on its way.
“Claremont Savings Bank has agreed to give the Claremont Schools a $4 million loan! Sleep well tonight and get ready for a great first day,” Koski wrote.
The loan, however, has yet to be finalized. And City Councilor Nick Koloski questioned whether the district even had the legal authority to move forward, noting there had been no School Board vote or public hearing.
“Citizens, myself included, are understandably apprehensive about handing over what feels like a blank check without knowing the full scope of a plan or the district’s true financial position,” Koloski said.
The loan report comes at a critical moment. The district has already cut 19 new teachers and 20 non-teaching staff in a desperate bid to reduce costs. Administrators warned there would be no money for substitutes, raising fears among educators that their paychecks might not clear on Friday.
Some teachers told NHJournal they were ready to leave the district entirely if the situation worsened.
The fiscal collapse did not come without warning. State education officials issued five letters between May 2022 and October 2024 warning Claremont of their “federal programmatic non-compliance.” Those letters are in addition to three fiscal compliance reports dating back to 2019 that flagged the district as high-risk for losing federal grant funding.
Independent auditor Mike Campo, brought in to assess the damage, said last week the trouble likely began in 2023, when the district failed to complete federal grant applications correctly. That mistake cost Claremont millions in reimbursements for money it had already spent.
Board member William Madden said those errors account for a large share of the current budget gap.
Sprague insisted that administrators, including Pratt, Henry, and former Superintendent Michael Tempesta, withheld key information from the board, noting that as late as May, the budget reports showed a positive balance.
“It wasn’t until Campo found a $2 million hole from 2023 that we even knew there was a problem,” Sprague said.
Many Claremont parents and taxpayers expressed their frustration that, while teachers and staff are being laid off, both Henry and Pratt remain on the district payroll — though they’re not being allowed to work.
When the district announced its fiscal crisis to the public, school officials urged parents and taxpayers to contact the state and demand help. Asked if a state bailout for Claremont was possible, Gov. Kelly Ayotte told NHJournal Wednesday that, while the students are the priority, there are major concerns about incompetence.
“For the parents of these kids, I can understand why they’re angry. I mean, I’m a mother, and I’d be very angry at what happened here, too,” Ayotte said.
The state is watching the situation closely, Ayotte said, “We’ve also asked the community college to partner here and see if there is any way they can help the local school districts.”
But concerns about the district’s fiscal track record are also weighing on her mind,
“We understand that kids have to be at the forefront of this, but we need to have a position where there’s good fiscal management of the local dollars,” Ayotte said. “There has been some serious mismanagement, from what I’m hearing.”
