Weare voters nix school and town budgets, reject John Stark teacher contract
Bruce Fillmore, Weare select board candidate 2025 Bruce Fillmore
John Stark Regional High School is seen on April 7, 2021 Eileen O'Grady
| Published: 03-12-2025 5:57 PM |
Weare voters rejected the operating budgets for both the town and the school district Tuesday and turned a thumbs down on a number of spending proposals.
One exception was pay. Voters approved a raise for non-union town employees as well as a new contract for support staff at Center Woods Elementary School.
But they rejected warrant articles for a new detective, a new police vehicle, a new roadside mower, a scale for the transfer station, an increased stipend for the Parks and Recreation director, giving more revenue from recyclables to a fund for transfer station upgrades, paying for wellness checks for police officers and buying an extra Taser for police, among other things.
Incumbent Bruce Fillmore won re-election to the select board over Paul Thoman, 908-679.
In a battle of newcomers, Katie Lipp defeated Lorraine Westphal for an open seat on the school board, 932-547.
Voters rejected by a vote of 920 yes to 966 no a petitioned article to cap future school district budget increases. They strongly approved, 1,232-567, an advisory article telling legislators to create transparency of educational Freedom Account school vouchers.
Paul Knudson won a three-way race for an open select board seat, defeating Wayne Aucoin and Erin Wasserman.
On the Henniker School Board, incumbent Deb Urbaitis was re-elected. Newcomer Jason Schrock won the open seat, defeating Jessica Lescarbeau.
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The school district’s operating budget and a new contract for support staff passed easily.
Henniker town government operates under a traditional meeting format. The meeting to vote on the operating budget and warrant articles will be held Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Henniker Community School, 51 Western Ave.
The operating budget for the two-town school district passed with approval from both Weare and Henniker but a new contract for teachers was rejected.
Henniker voters supported the contract, 409-210, but voters in the much larger town of Weare soundly rejected it, 1,120-772.
David Brooks can be reached at dbrooks@cmonitor.com.
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