A Growing Concern

For the past four years now I have challenged the local school district here in Keene to reign in their out-of-control spending with no real success. Mind you, this is a huge, $65 million dollar a year welfare machine that many of the residents of Keene have grown completely dependent upon; sadly, a conundrum shared widely throughout the country.

This year I’ve introduced three petitioned warrant articles, or ballot initiatives, that would reduce school spending and one article that would direct the district to opt out of Common Core. In previous years my warrants have always been amended completely ineffective at the first Deliberative session made up primarily of teachers and school admins who oppose any types of cuts. I expect no difference this time around. Convincing people to come out early on a Saturday morning to sit through a long drawn out meeting is much more difficult than collecting their signatures. However, judging by the turnout of disgruntled residents at the first informational meeting this past Tuesday and the fact that The Keene Sentinel chose to include the story on the front page the next day, leads me to believe that more apathetic voters are beginning to wake up. Here is the full Sentinel article:

 

Residents raise concerns at public hearing for Keene school budget

Keene residents at a public hearing Tuesday voiced frustration with the Keene School District’s proposed budget for 2016-17, which would raise property taxes by close to 3 percent if passed.

Four articles designed to reel in costs have also been added to the warrant by petition, including one that would create a committee to review the possibility of Keene’s withdrawing from N.H. School Administrative Unit 29.

The proposed budget is $64,977,772, up $181,394, or 0.28 percent, from the current year’s budget of $64,796,378.

This would raise property taxes by about 2.94 percent, adding $103.14 in property taxes to a house assessed at $200,000.

The proposed budget does not include the cost of the three labor contracts on the warrant.

One article proposes the appropriation of up to $50,000 to the special education trust fund from potential surplus from the current year’s budget.

The property tax increase is due largely to a decline in anticipated revenue and an increase in health-care costs.

“I appreciate all the hard work, but I think the fact that you are leaving capital projects in the budget is irresponsible to the taxpayers,” Keene resident Bryant Robertson said.

The budget plan would implement the second and final step in restructuring the city’s five elementary schools.

The first restructuring step, in the current year’s budget, cut five elementary classroom teachers. The nearly $690,000 savings was used for safety projects, including new fire sprinklers at Jonathan Daniels and Fuller schools.

Step two — closing Jonathan Daniels — would save an additional projected $1,018,668. These savings would be used for improvements to Symonds School.

The money would be used each year until all of Keene’s elementary schools are renovated without having to borrow any money, according to the district.

Robertson — one of about 30 people who attended the public hearing at Keene High School — said the right thing to do would be to put these projects in a bond and let the voters decide.

Keene Board of Education member James Carley responded that the reason capital projects have been included in the budget is because a 10-year bond would result in an additional $2 million dollars in interest. A 20-year bond would carry close to $4.8 million in interest, he said.

Fellow board member Kris Roberts also noted that these projects were included in a bond two years ago, which voters rejected.

Robertson disagreed, saying the reason the bond failed is because it included the closing of Jonathan Daniels.

“The city is generous when it comes to giving our kids what they need, but this budget needs to be reined in,” he said.

Robertson added that he can’t wait until his child graduates high school so he can find a town where local officials are more cognizant of the school budget on property taxes.

The default budget is $65,660,584, and will kick in if voters shoot down the board’s proposal.

Robertson called the vote on the budget a “false choice” because the default budget is higher than what is being proposed.

City resident Dave Curran also expressed concern with the budget, saying it’s becoming harder to make ends meet.

“Every year my taxes go up and my pay, my salary is not going up with it,” he said.

Four warrant articles were also submitted by petition and presented by Keene resident Conan Salada.

The first proposes the district implement a tax cap that would prevent the school board from proposing a budget that increases the amount to be raised by local taxes by more than 0.5 percent over the current-year budget.

The second proposes cutting the average cost per pupil by $500 every year, or until it reaches the state average. If passed, this article would take effect for the 2017-18 budget.

Keene’s cost per pupil in 2014-15 was $15,655.40, compared to the state average of $14,374.93, according to the latest data from the N.H. Department of Education.

Both articles were submitted by petition last year, too, but were ultimately nullified by amendments at the deliberative session.

Salada said the size of the school district’s budget is harmful to Keene residents and he wants to reel in costs.

“It might not hurt some people in the community, but it hurts me a lot,” he said. “The budget needs to get fixed.”

The third petition article proposes the district reject and discontinue participation in Common Core standards and the Smarter Balanced Assessment and instead form a committee to develop curriculum and set new academic standards.

Salada said local educators should be responsible for curriculum, testing and setting academic standards, instead of politicians in Washington, D.C.

“I think that is our job,” he said.

The last article proposes the district create a planning committee to study the feasibility of withdrawal from N.H. School Administrative Unit 29.

Unit 29 provides top-level administration to the Chesterfield, Harrisville, Keene, Marlow, Marlborough, Nelson and Westmoreland School Districts.

“I don’t understand why the Keene School District can’t provide the same services that SAU 29 is providing,” Salada said.

The Keene School district could perform the functions that Unit 29 does for less money, according to Salada.

The district expects a surplus from the 2015-16 year that’s more than $1 million less than the 2014-15 budget surplus, which helped to reduce the amount to be raised by property taxes in the current year. Also expected is almost $300,000 less in state adequacy aid.

Health-care costs are projected to spike by a maximum of 15.5 percent, the second highest increase for the district in the past seven years.

Each percent change in health care costs represents about $60,000 Unit 29 needs to account for, according to Unit 29 Business Administrator Timothy L. Ruehr.

Another driver of the budget is contractual obligations for salaries and benefits, which increase by $506,319 for 2016-17, according to the school board’s budget presentation Tuesday.

Not included in the budget proposal is the cost of contracts with some of the district’s labor groups.

The school board struck agreements with its custodians union, the Keene Educational Office Professional Group, which represents administrative assistants and the Keene Speech Pathologists/School Psychologists group.

An additional $27,631 would need to be raised for the custodians contract, which means the education portion of Keene property taxes would rise by $3 for the owner of a house assessed at $200,000 if voters approve the deal.

The cost of the administrative assistants’ contract will essentially have no effect on property taxes in 2016-17, according to Ruehr.

Only $1 will need to be raised, which will appear on the warrant because it’s legally required, Ruehr said.

Beginning in the 2017-18 budget, the contract will cost about an additional $20,000 each year and have more of an impact on property taxes.

The contract with the Keene Speech Pathologists/School Psychologists group will cost $2,107, which would raise the education portion of property taxes by 20 cents for the owner of a house assessed at $200,000 if voters approve the deal, according to Ruehr.

Like the deal with the district’s administrative assistants, later years of the contract will have a more significant effect on property taxes.

Any costs associated with these contracts will be listed as separate warrant articles to be considered by voters in March.

The proposed 2016-17 budget includes the reduction of the equivalent of 36.7 full-time positions, up from the administration’s previous amount of 29.9 to make corrections and to cater to the school board’s decision to cut the budget Saturday, according to N.H. School Administrative Unit 29 Assistant Superintendent Daniel J. Black.

The staffing reductions amount to $2.2 million in savings.

Some of the staffing cuts are due to declining enrollment, but others are a result of closing Jonathan Daniels School.

The initial proposal for the 2016-17 budget was $65,159,165, up $362,787, or 0.56 percent, from the current year’s budget.

The Keene Board of Education voted to cut the previously proposed increase in half at Saturday’s board meeting.

The next time voters will get a crack at the budget proposal is at the deliberative session, Feb. 6, at Keene High School, where voters can discuss and amend warrant articles. Residents will vote on the budget Tuesday, March 8, at the polls.

By Matt Nanci