Residents will have the option to change the Henniker School District from the town meeting format to the SB 2 format next week.
Henniker taxpayers put forward a petition warrant article, arguing that the change would encourage more people to participate in government and tighten district spending.
Bruce Trivellini, one of the group’s members, said low attendance at town meeting have allowed the school budget to increase unchecked and that switching to an SB 2 format – a two-meeting format with a deliberative session and a voting session with official balloting – would give more people a chance to weigh in.
“I think it’s better to have a 12-hour voting day versus one hour of testimony and one hour of voting,” he said.
Henniker Community School’s operating budget is $7.6 million, about $8,500 over last year’s approved budget. The school board reached that figure after reducing three teaching positions and creating an in-district special education program for students with emotional and social disabilities. Removing those teachers also lessened the burden of increasing health insurance costs, which are projected to increase a maximum 23.2 percent across the district.
Trivellini said the budget was “disproportionate” compared to the town’s median household income and the number of students in the district. Henniker’s student population has fluctuated slightly over the last few years: This year, the district has 402 students, up from last year’s population of 389 but down from 2014-15’s population of 407, according to the state Department of Education.
The town’s median household income was about $66,000 from 2010 to 2014, according to New Hampshire Employment Security. The state’s median household income in 2015 was $75,675.
Trivellini also said the district’s spending per pupil is too high compared to surrounding towns. Henniker currently spends $17,721.83 per pupil, roughly $2,800 more than the state’s average, according to the DOE.
While Deb Urbaitis, chairwoman of the Henniker school board, said the board has taken no official position on the warrant, she said she thinks more people participate in the traditional town meeting than in the SB 2 format. Urbaitis has seen how both formats operate, as she also serves on the John Stark school board, which operates as an SB 2 district. She estimates a few hundred people attend the town meeting.
“It can be hard for working people to get to a night meeting – I understand that, I have three little ones myself,” Urbaitis said. “But we want people to come to meetings to see how the budget works, not just to talk about cutting it. And the public meeting gives people the chance to have frank conversations with us. We want to be in conversation with people.”
Henniker school district’s town meeting is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. on March 15.
(Caitlin Andrews can be reached at 369-3309, candrews@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at @ActualCAndrews.)