Wilton-Lyndeborough Cooperative School District residents voted to adopt an open-enrollment program and passed a proposed $16.58 million operating budget at the annual district meeting Saturday, March 7.
The WLC administration, School Board and Budget Committee met with residents in the school’s cafeteria, where voters approved all warrant articles related to the budget.
Article 4
School Board Vice Chair Brianne Lavallee presented Article 4, concerning open enrollment.
Lavallee explained that communities must decide whether they are willing to accept students from outside the district, how many they can accept and whether the district will pay for students who choose to attend schools elsewhere.
“Based on the current interpretation, only districts that vote to be an open enrollment district can receive tuitioned students and limit the number of tuitioned students they agree to send outside the district,” she said. “Our school district’s costs do not increase or decrease if we accept open enrollment.”
Lavallee outlined the impact of voting either way.
“If you vote ‘no,’ the district and local taxpayers lose local control of tuition funds,” she said. “If a parent chooses to enroll their student at an open enrollment school, WLC will be responsible for paying the district.”
As an example, Lavallee noted that if 1%, or about five students, leave the district, the district would have to cover roughly $100,000 in tuition costs.
Lavallee also said that the district would not be able to place a cap on the number of tuition students leaving the district.
“If you vote ‘yes,’ parents can still decide to send students to a school of their choosing, but the town would not pay for that student to leave,” she said.
Under the proposed plan, the district could accept up to 10%, or roughly 50 tuition-paying students in grades 1 through 12, and limit the number of resident students it sends with tuition to open-enrollment schools outside the district. The district would pay none of the tuition costs for students who leave.
Lavallee noted that legislation concerning open enrollment is pending in the New Hampshire Legislature. If House Bill 751 passes, it would require all New Hampshire schools to follow its policy, which would make the warrant article unnecessary.
Weaver said rejecting the article could negatively impact the budget. “If this warrant article doesn’t pass today, if 10 children transfer, we’re looking at paying $20,000 per student, which would require a cut somewhere or an offset,” he said.
Article 5
District Budget Committee Vice Chair Alyssa Lavoie discussed Warrant Article 5, the district operating budget.
“The total proposed operating expenses are $16.58 million, which is a $568,269 or 3.55% increase,” she said, adding that $456,792 or 2.85% of that increase came from benefits.
The district’s anticipated revenue is $3.6 million, a $75,607 or 2.14% increase according to Lavoie.
“The estimated net impact on taxes is $568,296,” she said, 30.26% or $171,958 of which will come from Lyndeborough. Wilton will cover the remaining 69.74% or $396,311.
Lavoie said the estimated household annual tax increase for homes in Lyndeborough and Wilton, respectively, is $204.74 and $250.84.
The key drivers behind the district’s budget are salaries and benefits, comprising 70.5% or $11.68 million, followed by special education encompassing 13.1% or $2.17 million. The remaining 16.4% covers facilities, transportation, food services and additional areas.
Article 8
Warrant Article 8 appropriates $190,000 to the Building/Equipment & Roadway Capital Reserve Fund.
“CRFs prevent us from going into debt by allowing us to gather the money needed for projects before we spend it,” District Moderator Bob Newton told the audience.
School Board member Michelle Alley said Lyndeborough would cover $57,500 and Wilton $132,500.
“The average tax impact for the average $417,000 home in Lyndeborough is $68.46,” Alley said. The tax impact for an average priced $365,000 Wilton home is $83.87.
Lyndeborough resident Bill Kraus raised concerns about antiquated heating units in WLC. He said the school has 41 total units and all of them need replacing. “It’s roughly $25,000 per unit, it’s a large project,” he added.
School Board member Jonathan Lavoie said a solution proposed at a previous meeting was replacing the units piecemeal. “We discussed replacing them about 10 at a time instead of all at once, so it is being thought about.”
Article 9
William E. Anderson of Lyndeborough petitioned Warrant Article 9. The article’s original language asked whether residents believed school budget decisions should remain with local voters rather than be restricted by a statewide spending cap.
“Our education is under fierce attack by HB 675,” Anderson said.
HB 675 would increase revenue raised under the statewide education property tax, require municipalities to remit excess statewide education property tax payments to the Department of Revenue Administration, limit school districts’ authority to make certain appropriations and increase base adequacy costs per pupil.
Anderson said the bill could eliminate the need for future district meetings and expressed concern about the state controlling local school budgets.
At the request of Lyndeborough resident Neil Faiman, the district amended the article’s language to read: “it is the will of the Wilton-Lyndeborough School District Meeting that any statewide cap on local budgets ought to not be passed into law by the New Hampshire Legislature.”
Voters approved the amended article.
Other articles
Voters approved Article 6, which concerned a collective bargaining agreement between the district and WLC support staff that would increase wages and benefits over three years, including adding three additional holidays to the existing two already allotted to the staff.