Dunbarton moderator John Trottier explains to residents that they need to get a purpl card for voting during the crossover between the end of voting and the start of the town meeting on Tuesday night, March 8, 2022.
Dunbarton moderator John Trottier explains to residents that they need to get a purpl card for voting during the crossover between the end of voting and the start of the town meeting on Tuesday night, March 8, 2022. Credit: GEOFF FORESTER

Dunbarton residents overwhelmingly agreed Saturday to renew and extend its agreement to send middle and high school students to Bow.

By secret ballot, 128 voted in favor of continuing the arrangement to pay tuition to Bow for students in 7-12th grades, while 8 voted against, a 94% approval.

The agreement was changed to increase fees for capital improvements and how Bow can use those funds to improve schools. The Authorized Regional Enrollment Area (AREA) agreement, which was first signed in 2013, was extended from 10 years to 15 years.

Voters in Bow agreed to renew their end of the mutual agreement on Friday night. While the current contract wasn’t yet set to expire for another year, negotiations between the two towns started early in advance of the expiration date. The renewal will start July 1, 2024 and end June 30, 2039.

Before sending students to Bow, Dunbarton for years sent students to Goffstown. At the same time, Bow was seeing declining enrollment at the high school, and the pairing between the neighboring towns made sense.

Other tuition agreements between Concord-area towns haven’t been as popular.

This year, Canterbury voters agreed to begin studying whether to leave the Shaker Regional School District, while voters in Loudon considered an article to start the process of exiting the Merrimack Valley Regional School District, which failed to pass.

All other articles passed during Saturday’s meeting in Dunbarton, which began at 4 p.m. in a snowstorm and ended by 6 p.m.

By voice vote, voters approved the $8.8 million school budget, which presented a 3% increase over this year, as well as a new teachers’ contract.

The negotiated three-year agreement will increase salaries by 4% to keep them competitive with surrounding school districts. The first year of the contract will add about $40,000 in additional costs, while the second year will add $122,000 and the third, $111,000.

The last two articles – placing $27,725 into a school improvement fund and contributing $1,000 into the Community Center Capital Reserve fund – both passed easily.