The top education policy leader in the New Hampshire House of Representatives said the school budget crisis in Claremont has shown why it’s time to give the state Board of Education sweeping powers to hire an administrator that could take over financial operations of a school district that fails to fix its own books.

State Rep. Glenn Cordelli, R-Tuftonboro, said that he’s bracing for charges that his proposal violates the tradition of local control, which has held that the ultimate authority for public-school financial decision-making that lies solely with the elected school board and its appointed superintendent. The bill faces its first public hearing on Tuesday,

“My response to that would be that if a district’s officials can’t manage their own responsibilities, then someone has to

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