For both candidates in Franklin’s only contested race in the upcoming city elections, education funding is a major issue. But the opponents have very different perspectives on how to solve the problem.
On one hand, there’s incumbent Olivia Zink, who is running for her second term after three years on the city council. Zink is encouraging the city to move forward with a lawsuit against the state to increase funding for schools. Her opponent, Karen Testerman, wouldn’t push for a lawsuit and believes consolidation of schools or jobs is the best way to save money.
Zink says the loss of more than $1 million in adequacy and stabilization funding from the state in the last three years has been a huge contributor to the district being close to $1 million short in its budget three years in a row. The school district has had to lay off around 25 employees in that time.
“We have seen a tremendous amount of downshifting from the state, and we need to begin to advocate at the state level and the federal level, that our tax dollars need to be returned to Franklin,” Zink said at a candidates forum in Franklin on Sept. 24. “We cannot continue to go on a path where teachers are laid off annually and pink slips are given out.”
Zink, who was a student at Franklin High School and a liaison with the school board during the first Claremont lawsuit – when New Hampshire towns and cities sued the state and won – said she saw the change that decision made for a city like Franklin. But during recent years, she has seen a lot of that work undone, she said.
Testerman believes a lawsuit is the last thing Franklin needs.
“I wouldn’t be joining lawsuits, because it’s going to cost us more money,” she said at the forum.
Testerman said that consolidation is the city’s best option at this time – either the consolidation of two of the district’s three schools, or consolidating the superintendent’s office with the city finance office.
“I am convinced that funding is not our problem, it’s a reallocation of resources. Are we putting them in the right places?” she said. “When you look at the cost of the superintendent, the staff that he has over there, their benefits, you’re talking about a million dollars.”
And unlike Zink, who was one of the city councilors who voted in support of moving debt services out from under the cap in July – essentially breaking the cap – Testerman said there is nothing that would convince her to mess with the city’s cap.
She said it was something that encouraged her to move to Franklin 14 years ago, and it’s something that’s kept her in the city since then.
“When taxes go up, people with fixed incomes are impacted and sometimes they have to leave the community, which affects the overall makeup of the community,” she said. “I’m a strong believer that we need not only the young people in the community, but senior citizens as well – there’s a lot of richness to be gained from having a mix of seniors and young people. I will not break the tax cap to accommodate for poor planning.”
Testerman said money from an increased tax base, as the city’s downtown revitalizes, as well as tourism at the city’s proposed whitewater park, will help bring money into the city over time.
“The revenue that’s going to come in from the number of people who will be visiting the city of Franklin will greatly enhance the budgets,” she said.
The Ward 2 city council race is the only contested race in the city’s election. Jo Brown, a fourth generation Franklin resident who filled the spot left vacant by Tony Giunta when he ran for mayor last year, is running for re-election in Ward 1.
Polls will be open on Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.