In school districts like ConVal, Jaffrey-Rindge and Mascenic, which operate under the SB2 Town Meeting system, voters choose to accept or reject the district budget after a deliberative session for debate and amendments, and if defeated, a “default budget” would be put into effect.
Default budgets are required by law to be listed in the warrant article for towns adhering to SB2, or Senate Bill 2, named after the legislation that made this type of Town Meeting available to towns and schools. It is based on a mathematical formula, calculated from the approved budget from the previous year and adjusted for any increases or decreases made necessary by previous action in the district.
In the event that a district’s budget is defeated and the default budget is put in place, some programs or positions might have to be cut to accommodate the decrease in available spending.
ConVal almost faced a default budget last year when its proposed budget was initially defeated prior to a recount. This year, its proposed operating budget is $53.7 million and the default is $52.8 million.
“It’s important to understand that this would require us to reduce $588,000 out of the leanest budget I’ve seen in four years on the board,” said School Board member Katherine Heck of Greenfield when presenting on the default budget at the district’s community forum in January.
The district has guidelines in place to help guide such cuts, organized into a tier system based on level of impact to students and key programming. The board would start with Tier 1, with lowest direct impact on students, and work as necessary up until Tier 5, which would cut essential programming.
Heck emphasized at the forum that the default budget for this year would be very difficult to come to, and did not specify what programs might be cut if necessary.
“We don’t really have a lot of wiggle room in this year’s budget to look for these cuts because we have really pared down the budget as leanly as possible this year,” she said.
Jaffrey-Rindge is facing a similar issue, with the potential for cutting six or seven teacher positions if the default budget goes into effect, according to district communications coordinator Nick Handy.
Jaffrey-Rindge’s proposed operating budget is $27.5 million, with a default of $26.9 million. The decrease between the two is $541,739, with increases that include health insurance rate increases, collective bargaining agreement increases and teacher lane changes.
One of the largest increases in the budget would also be included in the default, according to Superintendent Reuben Duncan, an unexpected $1 million increase in the district’s special education spending. Many other increases, including some increases in facilities due to higher cost of materials, would not be included.
“It includes all of our legal obligations,” said Duncan, referring to the special education increases. “We have a moral and legal obligation to provide these services.”
Because of increases that would legally have to stay within the default budget, the potential need to cut teacher positions would arise. Handy said that the district has not decided which schools or classes would be affected by these cuts, and that it could negatively affect class sizes.
During Jaffrey-Rindge’s deliberative session, Kevin Chamberlain of Jaffrey introduced an amendment to change the proposed operating budget to equal the default, an amendment that was voted down.
In Mascenic, where the proposed operating budget is $19.5 million and the default is $19.4 million, the difference between the two is $32,455.
At the district deliberative session, Business Administrator Lizabeth Baker said that the default’s increases of about $150,000 over last year’s approved budget represented contractual increases in health care and transportation.
“If the budget doesn’t pass on March 8, the district will adopt the default and be tasked with saving $32,455 off of the proposed budget,” she said, but did not point out any specific programs that might be faced with cuts.