Dunbarton residents will vote on their partnership with the Bow School District, the school budget and teacher contracts at the annual school district meeting Saturday.
At the meeting, which begins at 4 p.m. Saturday, residents will decide whether to approve the school district’s $8.8 million proposed operating budget.
This year’s budget is up 3% from last year’s school budget of $8,564,835. The total estimated school tax rate for the 2022-2023 budget is $17.77, a 5.6% increase from last year’s tax rate of $16.83.
The largest areas of increase are for instructional programs, including a $71,581 increase for special education and a $14,187 increase in costs for speech services this year after speech-language pathology offerings were reduced in a budget amendment at last year’s annual meeting.
Voters will also be asked to approve a negotiated pay boost for teachers, which will increase what the district spends on salary and benefits by $40,217 in the 2022-2023 school year.
Voters will also be asked to participate in a secret ballot vote Saturday to renew the status of the Authorized Regional Enrollment Area (AREA) agreement that Dunbarton students attend Bow Middle School and Bow High School after completing their time at Dunbarton Elementary. Dunbarton first signed a 10-year AREA agreement with the Bow School District in 2013.
In the polls Tuesday, Dunbarton voters elected school board members. Incumbents Clement Madden and Jarrett Duncan were re-elected to the school board with 258 and 225 votes respectively, beating out challengers Raymond Plante (136 votes) and Lori Rouleau (123 votes). John Trottier was re-elected as school district moderator with 386 votes.