A resident-initiated petition to change Merrimack Valley’s articles of agreement could reignite debate about consolidating the elementary schools in Salisbury and Webster, which both have fewer than 100 students.
Under the district’s founding document, every town must have an elementary school. The warrant article would authorize the school board to begin the process to eliminate that mandate, paving the way for one of the schools to be eliminated.
The district last considered consolidating the two schools in 2021, but it opted against doing so in the face of opposition from residents of the two towns. The district also studied consolidation in 2011.
Currently, the Salisbury and Webster schools have 62 and 84 students respectively, roughly on par with enrollment in 2021. Four grades across the two schools have 10 or fewer students, according to data from the Department of Education.
The petition was initiated by Boscawen resident and former school board member Loren Martin. None of the 46 residents who signed the petition reside in either Webster or Salisbury.
Martin was not available to answer questions about the rationale for the petition on Thursday.
David Hemenway, the chair of the Webster select board and the parent of a first-grader at the elementary school, said he opposes consolidation.
Previously, consolidation had been framed as a cost-saving measure, though the 2021 study did not involve a formal cost analysis. In Hemenway’s view, “many of the efficiencies aren’t as great as people think.”
The schools already share a principal and other staff, he said, and as small schools, they provide social benefits for students and serve as resources for the towns, he said.
“The school is the central focus point of the community, so by removing the school, you remove the community of the town,” he said. “That’s the really hard thing and something that neither town wants.”
Voters will weigh in on the petition warrant article at the district’s annual meeting on March 5. If passed, it would be merely advisory and would not definitively trigger the consolidation of the schools.
Here’s what else you need to know about the district’s budget and warrant articles:
Operating budget: The school board is recommending an operating budget of $51.9 million for next school year, which would be a 3.4% increase from this year.
The operating budget does not include $766,000 in proposed raises for members of the educators’ union, which will need to be approved by voters separately. Counting that expenditure, the increase would be 4.9%.
Unlike last year, when voters rejected the proposed budget at the annual meeting, the budget does not include any vacant positions that are not expected to be filled, and there is no expectation that there will be unused funds at the end of the year.
The main cost driver of the budget increase is health and dental insurance, an expense that has increased precipitously across the country. The district has also consistently allocated less than it has expended to its food service and is attempting to rectify that practice this year.
Washington Street School: Last November, the school board approved a years-long project to renovate the Penacook school that houses a district-run alternative education program, along with a food pantry and charter school.
The board contemplated paying for the multi-million dollar project at least partly through tuition that other districts pay to enroll their students in the program. One warrant article would formalize that approach, officially allocating all tuition payments to the maintenance of the building.
Some have criticized the plan because they don’t think the district is in the financial position to launch the project, given that it is still in a deficit that originated during the 2023-24 school year.
At a public hearing for the budget on Wednesday, Boscawen resident Bill Heinz described the spending plan as a “poison pill” that he could not get behind.
“I think revenues are a key part of what keeps our taxes tolerable, and by targeting them, you are faking out the taxpayer,” he said.
Special education and maintenance: The board has proposed raising $500,000 and $200,000 for the special education and maintenance expendable trust funds respectively. The special education fund is currently empty and the maintenance fund is low, administrators said.
Tax impact: If all the board-supported financial warrant articles pass, the tax impact will be felt differently across the district. Penacook residents, who already have the largest property taxes, would see the largest increase, at $2.83 per $1,000 of property value or $1,132 on a property valued at $400,000. Webster residents would experience the lowest increase, at $0.33 per $1,000 of property value or $132 on a property valued at $400,000.
You can explore the impact for your town on the district’s website.
The differences are due largely to the density of children in each community.
Town meeting: Residents have also submitted a petition to alter how the district’s town meeting is conducted. If passed, the district would adopt what is known as an SB2 meeting structure. This would mean that instead of voting during a meeting, residents would cast their votes on all warrant articles on their election ballot.
