Voters will decide March 11 whether the ConVal budget is cut by petition article. They will also weigh in on whether ConVal district property taxes will increase from 7% to 20%.
The cut was petitioned by a few dozen people in the form of a cap on expenses. It is Article 9, to cap the ConVal budget at $29,000 per student. This would require teacher layoffs and cutbacks in discretionary funding such as sports, languages, arts and services. The cap is less than the current budget. It ignores soaring health insurance increases and other inflation in district expenses.
The property tax increase would result if ConVal town voters decide to let Dublin and Francestown leave the district. These are warrant Articles 7 and 8. If the towns leave, SAU 1 would be required to set up and manage an additional SAU for each town. This would require at least two new administrative staff positions to handle all the paperwork and accounting. While the towns could later vote and petition the state to leave the district, this process takes time. The district would still have to set up their SAUs for at least the first year.
The property tax increase could vary from $4 million to $12 million for remaining towns. It depends upon how many Dublin and Francestown students tuition into the ConVal district and what that tuition would cost. If all Dublin students decided to attend Keene High School, the property tax increase for remaining towns would be closer to $12 million.
I recommend that voters vote no to Conval Articles 7, 8, and 9 on March 11. It is what is best for the students of ConVal and what is best for most of the voters of the district.
Jeanne Dietsch
Peterborough