When the Deerfield school board’s operating budget came onto the table at Saturday’s deliberative session, Jacqueline Trimmer took the microphone and proposed an amendment.
The budget had been hotly contested, as the town’s municipal budget committee proposed a $700,000 reduction from what the school board requested. Initially, the committee cut over $3 million but was legally challenged by board Chair Kendra Cohen before backing off.
Trimmer made the motion to consider what the school board suggested — $20.8 million, around a 1.5% increase from the default budget — and it was accepted unanimously. Trimmer has two children in seventh and fifth grade and said the school board made a good effort in their proposed budget, which also contained cuts.
“I think there has certainly been this tension in the town of ‘where are we going to cut taxes from,'” she said. “Of course, people looking at where we can reduce taxes are going to look at the school. But, luckily, today there were enough of us who really feel like making cuts that are going to negatively impact our students is not the way to go about it.”
Cohen, who filed the lawsuit against the committee earlier this month, said it was nice to see the amendment go through.
“I was very happy that we had a really large turnout and that there was a clear message that there was support for our students,” she said.
Four separate articles addressed school choice at the meeting. In 2023, the town allowed students coming out of Deerfield Community School to choose which high school they could attend: Coe-Brown Northwood Academy, Concord High School and Pembroke Academy. Previously, high school students primarily attended Concord High.
One advisory article challenged continuing to offer school choice, stating it costs Deerfield taxpayers a lot of money on top of increasing property taxes. It suggested the board should negotiate with schools for cost-effective tuition agreements.
“[This article] is not about finding the cheapest school. It is not about targeting any specific school. It is not about reducing quality,” said Maryann Clark, who made the petition. “It is about encouraging stability, predictability, and responsible pricing.”
Greg Whitmore has been a high school teacher for 18 years and said that when children are given the opportunity to choose a school environment that’s best for them, they “flourish.”
“Deerfield has a long history of flux, an absurd history of bouncing our students around to various high schools,” he said. “I know that we are looking for that stability, and with that stability should come the comfort of families being able to make the decisions that are best for them.”
Another article proposed the board look into “top-off” tuition agreements. Tuition price would be set at a certain number — most likely that of the lowest cost school, Pembroke Academy — and families wishing to choose a school that is more expensive would be responsible for paying the difference. The tuition of both Concord High and Coe-Brown are about $2,500 more than Pembroke.
Residents gave mixed opinions: Some liked it but would like to see a reserve fund established to help families, others thought it would further limit the choices families could make.
“If we had top-off agreements, I certainly couldn’t pay for my daughter to go to her high school choice,” said Christine O’Neill, whose daughter is in eighth grade and wishes to attend Coe-Brown. “You have to be going to the one that’s on record, and to know that some of her friends were making decisions to go to other schools, it just seems so unfair.”
Voting day is March 10 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Deerfield Town Hall.