The chair of Deerfield’s school board has sued the town and its municipal budget committee, arguing that the committee’s self-described “scheme” to reduce next year’s proposed school district budget violates court precedent and state law.
The committee is under fire from some in town for trimming 15% from the school board’s budget request last month, though it voted Tuesday to temporarily reverse course and revisit that decision.
Committee members have said they selected the percentage under the assumption that the maximum amount allowed by law — 10% of the committee’s figure — would ultimately be added back at an upcoming deliberative session.
Kendra Cohen, the school board chair, argued in her complaint that the committee was not allowed to make that assumption and that it had failed to exercise due diligence in determining whether the school district could function with the amount of money proposed.
“They are required to review and recommend the budget in good faith,” said Cohen, who filed the lawsuit in her individual capacity rather than on behalf of the board. “The budget committee did not make any inquiry about whether we could meet our legal and contractual obligations with the 15% budget cut.”
Kevin Verville, the chair of the committee, declined to comment on the claims made by Cohen due to the pending litigation.
Committee members said last month that their strategy was necessary to give residents “a genuine choice” on the level at which to fund the school. In recent years, they said, the district’s default and proposed budget numbers have been nearly identical. If the proposed budget fails to garner majority support, the district is funded at the default level, which is set by the school board.
This year, the default budget of $20.8 million is $16,000 less than the board had requested. If the budget committee reverts to its earlier proposal and no money is added back at the deliberative session, residents would effectively choose between two options that are $3.1 million apart.
Board of Selectmen chair Will Huebner, who also serves on the budget committee, wrote on social media that the committee was “taking a stand to allow the voters to take control of their tax bills.”
“Let this courage and leadership be a pivotal step in restoring the power back into the hands of We The People,” he wrote.
Deerfield’s school budget has increased 43% over the past five years, growth driven primarily by a combination of increasing high school tuition, special education costs and employee benefits, according to budget documents. In 2024, when voters opted for choice over where their children attend high school, school leaders warned that the change would cost significantly more. Previously, the district received a discount from Concord in exchange for agreeing to send the majority of its students there.
At a meeting on Tuesday, residents criticized the committee’s approach.
“I am requesting that you prioritize the education of our children rather than gambling on them,” Julia Sunderlin told the committee.
Superintendent Jessica Bickford said the reduced budget “would definitely be catastrophic” for the district if passed.
Deerfield, which has 677 students this year, has no high school and is locked into tuition agreements with area districts to send their high schoolers there, so all of the reductions would come at the kindergarten through eighth-grade Deerfield Community School.
Much of a school district’s expenses are mandated through employee contracts or through state and federal laws, so discretionary spending is limited.
Committee members spent more than two hours at this week’s meeting asking Business Administrator Amber Wheeler which budget lines they could conceivably reduce.
The committee is set to settle on a final number on Saturday. It was not clear whether they planned to reintroduce significant reductions, or if so, where they would propose the reductions be made.
“I have no way of knowing,” Verville said.
In Deerfield, the budget committee is responsible for setting the proposed operating budget and all other warrants for both the town and school. Residents can then move to amend those numbers at deliberative sessions, before they appear on ballots in March.
At a Dec. 13 meeting, vice chair Leah McHugh made a surprise motion to make the 15% cut. She said that there were “many areas of the budget that I feel can be reduced,” but did not identify them.
McHugh did not respond to a request for comment.
At the meeting, members openly discussed their expectation that 10% would be added back, leading to an ultimate reduction from the school board’s request of roughly 6.5%, or $1.4 million.
“I would be dumbfounded if that didn’t happen,” Verville said at the meeting. “I would be more afraid of being struck by lightning today than that not happening.”
Some members personally volunteered to make the motion to restore the money themselves.
The proposed reduction passed 7-1, with four members of the 11-person committee absent. (Cohen, who serves on the committee in her capacity as a school board member, was not present; board member Ellen O’Donnell served as her replacement.)
At a subsequent meeting three days afterward, a motion to reconsider failed by a 6-5 vote.
Cohen’s lawsuit followed three days later.
A hearing in the case is scheduled for Jan. 27, less than two weeks before the Feb. 7 deliberative session. Cohen said she plans to request an earlier hearing from the court.
In her lawsuit, she cited the 1970 state Supreme Court case Baker v. Hudson School District, in which the court ruled unanimously that a budget committee doesn’t have the power to unilaterally control the maximum budget by setting a number 10% lower than it believes is warranted.