The Francestown School Committee presented its plan for educating the children of Francestown should the town withdraw from the ConVal School District at the ConVal Withdrawal Committee meeting Thursday.
Members of the FSC, including Kevin Pobst, Pat Troy, Laura Mafera and David Stahlin, reported that after making an extensive study of similar New Hampshire towns which have withdrawn from larger school districts, including Mason, Cornish and Hill, the committee concluded that withdrawal is economically and logistically possible for Francestown.
“The stories in each of these three towns were instructive, and in each case, they were promising,” Pobst said. “These districts know what they are doing, and they are sustainable and realistic. We have concluded from our study of these three schools, and from the numbers provided by Superintendent Forrest in August, that is is unequivocally feasible for Francestown to operate a one-school, independent school district.”
Pobst, a former school principal who previously served as the ConVal School Board representative for Francestown, addressed some of the potential challenges of running an independent district which have been raised by the ConVal School Board, including hiring part-time specialists, providing benefits to staff, running multi-grade classrooms and covering the responsibilities of the school administrative unit.
“It was really interesting for us to see how these tiny little schools could function as a school and as a district,” Pobst said. “I was very curious about they operated, and they were very eager to tell their stories. … We looked at their academic performance and growth, which have been very positive.”
The FSC clarified that their withdrawal plan is only a recommendation to the town for what could happen going forward. If withdrawal is approved by ConVal voters in March, Francestown would elect a new Francestown School Board which would then negotiate the terms of the withdrawal with ConVal and make decisions on policies and procedures for the Francestown elementary school.
The FSC said they will recommend that Francestown run the town’s elementary school as a pre-kindergarten through grade five school, with older students tuitioning in to Great Brook Middle School and ConVal High School. The Francestown School Committee has stated repeatedly that the town is supportive of the ConVal district and would like to maintain their relationship with ConVal, and that their primary concern is that Francestown retain its own elementary school.
“The town has sufficient tax base to operate our own district. Withdrawal allows us to better align the taxpayer contributions with the desires of the Francestown community,” Laura Mafera stated as part of the committee’s proposal.
The FSC’s proposal also stated that withdrawal would “alleviate ConVal of the burden of responsibility for a school they have repeatedly sought to close.”
The town would also seek to purchase the Francestown Elementary School building from the district.
Pat Troy, who presented the financials on the proposal, said that the town feels they can run FES independently for about the same amount the town pays into the ConVal district, which is about $4.1 million per year.
The proposal includes placing $200,000 per year into a new Special Education Trust Fund for Francestown students. In New Hampshire, local property taxes pay for most of the cost of special education.
The ConVal School board has repeatedly stated that if any towns withdraw from ConVal and create independent school districts, the change would incur additional administrative costs to ConVal’s eight other towns. Francestown has stated their intention to withdraw from SAU #1 and create an SAU just for the Francestown School District, with the goal of reducing tax burden on the ConVal district.
The FSC estimates that the net cost of withdrawal to the other ConVal towns will be about $1,228,083, or 2% of the total budget.
In answer to a question from Curtis Hamilton, School Board representative from Greenfield and chair of the Withdrawal Committee, about whether all Francestown all residents would support possible additional costs caused by the withdrawal, Select Board chair Charlie Pyle said the FSC had been “very clear” about potential financial impacts.
“This is not about saving money. At both our Town Meeting and our Special Town meeting, I made very clear to everyone there that this was not going to be a reduction in cost, and nobody questioned it,” Pyle said. “More people attended the Special Town meeting than the regular Town Meeting, and it was voted in unanimously.”
The FSC’s proposal states that “Francestown has a strong tax base that wants and can afford to run our own school district.”
The ConVal district, citing the high cost of running 11 buildings spread out over 250 square miles, has presented multiple proposals in the past few decades for consolidating the district’s eight elementary schools, several of which have fewer than 50 students. Francestown has been repeatedly targeted as one of the smallest schools.
In 2023, a warrant article which would have paved the way for potentially sending elementary school students in Francestown, Bennington, Temple and Dublin to other elementary schools in the district failed at the polls.
Enrollment at Francestown Elementary School is currently about 45 students.
The ConVal Withdrawal Committee has tentatively scheduled to hold the vote on Francestown’s withdrawal request on Thursday, Oct. 2.
After the vote, the Withdrawal Committee will present their decision to the New Hampshire State Board of Education. If Francestown does not agree with the ConVal School Board’s decision, the town can submit a minority opinion to the state Department of Education.
In 2024, the DOE granted both Francestown and Dublin the right to take the issue to ConVal voters. Both proposals failed by a narrow margin at the polls. Dublin did not request another feasibility study in 2025.
If Francestown’s proposal for withdrawal is approved again this year by the DOE, a warrant article for the town’s withdrawal will be on the ConVal ballot in March.
According to state law, a warrant article for withdrawal must be approved by a majority across the entire district, or by a 60% approval within the town proposing withdrawal town and a 40% approval across the district as a whole. Francestown’s request for withdrawal received 81% approval in town in 2025, but failed because only 38% of district voters overall approved, less than the 40% required with 60% town approval.
Temple warrant article for withdrawal is rescinded
The ConVal School Board also voted to approve the town of Temple’s request to rescind a March 2025 petition warrant article which had asked for a withdrawal feasibility study in 2025. The Temple Select Board proposed the article be rescinded after signers of the petition warrant article failed to organize a withdrawal committee or create an education plan for Temple, both of which are required by state law if a town undertakes a feasibility study for withdrawal.
Temple voters rescinded the petition warrant article requesting a feasibility study for withdrawal from the ConVal School District at a Special Town Meeting on Aug. 18.
The board voted unanimously to approve Temple’s request to withdraw from the feasibility study.