Claremont School Board, Budget Public Hearing, January 2, 2019 | FY2019-20 budget hearing and board business

Participants

Everyone heard on the recording. There are no minutes to check spellings against; names follow the project's 2015-2023 roster and attribution report, or the speaker's own introduction, with the transcribed form kept where it differs.
Name	Role	Participation
Frank Sprague	Chair; budget subcommittee	"I am Frank Sprague. I'm the chair of the board." (0:15:28). Reads the hearing rules, presents the warrant articles, reads a letter from the Claremont Development Authority, and runs the questions and the board business.
Jason Benware	Member; budget subcommittee	Introduced as "Mister Jason. Ben? Where?" (0:01:39). Presents fixed costs, revenues and the proposed total, and the elementary alternative program; moves the warrant articles and the policies.
Michael Petrin	Member; budget subcommittee	Named by the chair as "Mike, Mike, patron" on the subcommittee (0:33:46). Presents the budget by object, the reductions and the additions; seconds the policy motion.
Michelle Pierce	Member	Questions the alternative program during the hearing and is ruled out of order by the chair (0:22:35 to 0:47:03); asks about enrollment trends and the warrant articles.
Rebecca Zullo	Vice chair	Says she assumes the program is "100% legal" (0:43:14); questions the radio article's contents (0:48:30).
Carolyn Towle	Member	Recognized as "Carolyn." (0:47:11); urges members to take questions to the special education director; seconds the warrant-article motion (attribution uncertain) and adjournment.
Michael O'Neill	Business administrator, SAU 6	"Mr. Mike O'Neill, who's our, our budget specialist, a business administrator" (0:00:39). Explains the default budget (0:35:09 to 0:37:40) and the fire-alarm panel.
Cory LeClair	Assistant Superintendent, SAU 6	Answers on how positions are chosen for reduction (0:27:24), on account numbers, and on the policies; refers to "our fabulous chair" of SAU 6 (0:58:29).
Ben Nester	Director of special education, SAU 6	"Mr. nester is our director of special education for, say, You six." (0:20:34). Answers on the program model.
Marjorie Erickson	Chair, SAU 6 Board (in the audience)	Thanked by name ("Thank you. Marjorie.", 1:00:32); discusses a date for the next SAU 6 meeting.
Glynnis Hart	Reporter, Eagle Times	"Glynnis Hart, Eagle times." (0:24:28). Asks what the 300 to 700 lines are.
Jonathan Young	Citizens' comments, Ward 3	"Jonathan Young, Ward three." (0:27:02). Asks how positions to be cut were chosen.
Unidentified	Citizens' comments (ward not heard)	First speaker from the floor: "I guess I support the philosophy 150%." (0:19:51). Asks about the program model and whether it would draw families to Claremont. Name and ward are not on the recording.
Unidentified	SAU staff member (radio quotes)	"I got the number based on a quote." (0:48:56). Possibly the director of instructional technology; not established.
Unidentified	Various	30 of 390 dialogue rows (7.7%).

Order of business (reconstructed)

No notice or agenda survives online. The chair states the hearing's order at the start; the order of the board business after the break follows the recording.
Taken up	Item	What was said and done
0:00:10	Opening and hearing rules	The board as budget committee presents; the business administrator explains the default budget; then "citizens comments and questions", limited to the budget. Speakers "State your name, your ward"; three minutes, a second two-minute turn only after everyone has spoken (0:01:14).
0:02:16	Budget presentation	Benware (fixed costs, revenues, totals), Petrin (budget by object, reductions, additions), Benware (alternative program), Sprague (warrant articles, 0:15:28).
0:19:36	Questions from the public	An unnamed resident, Glynnis Hart of the Eagle Times, and Jonathan Young of Ward 3. The chair reads a letter from the Claremont Development Authority (0:29:57).
0:35:09	Default budget	O'Neill's explanation, then questions; the chair closes the hearing: "Hearing none concludes the hearing. I will close the public hearing." (0:47:49).
0:48:30	Warrant articles	The recording resumes mid-discussion of a proposal to take the radio article out of the group; Benware: "Fair enough. I would draw my motion." and its second is rescinded (0:50:13, 0:50:16). Benware: "I move that we move all of the Warren articles forward to the deliberative session." (0:50:21); second "I think, Carolyn." / "Second, second." (0:50:41); carried by voice vote (0:53:48).
0:53:59	Policies, second and final read	Benware moves the policies first read on December 19; Petrin seconds; carried (0:55:36).
0:56:02	Future agenda items	Next regular meeting January 16; joint City Council and school board meeting January 17 "in this room" (0:58:08); an SAU 6 date to be set, January 24 tentatively.
1:01:08	Adjournment	Benware moves, Towle seconds; carried (1:01:48).

Discussion timeline

Times are taken from the dialogue transcript (Dialogue/10185 SchoolBoardBudgetHearing010219.mp4.CSV) and link into the recording. Quotations are as transcribed; bracketed words are corrections, with the transcript's wording kept where the correction changes sense. The letter read by the chair is quoted as he read it.

Chronological topics with the most concrete material first.
Time	Topic	What was said	Flags
0:02:16	Fixed costs	Benware: "the voter approved collective bargaining agreement" with the teachers, "$593,878"; non-union salary increases $55,681; benefits $93,134; out-of-district placement and contracted services $71,087, "for grand total of fixed cost increases of $813,780." (0:02:43).
0:04:11	Revenue and the target	"loss of stabilization plus the loss of excess special ed aid is $101,061." The board's goal from its retreat: last year's budget plus half of the fixed costs and lost revenue, "$914,841" halved to "$457,420.50" (0:04:52).
0:05:26	The proposed total	"This budget was 31,828, $31,828,063, which showed an increase of 333,653." With the lost revenue, "a total increase of 434,714, which was below what our max target was." (The warrant later states the operating budget as $35,293,063 including grants and other offset funds; see the February 6, 2019 page.)
0:08:34	Reductions	Petrin: "At the high school we're looking to reduce by four positions. Which is 250 000."; preschool 1.5 positions, "about 134,000"; Bluff one position, 84,000; "district wide six positions for an estimated 143,000."
0:09:29	Additions	An ROTC class "here at the sugar River tech"; a part-time English-as-a-second-language tutor; and the elementary alternative program, "This is 373,000" (0:09:57).
0:11:35	Alternative program	Benware: two classrooms, "total of nine staff members"; "The staffing cost is $623,000 a year", against out-of-district placements "at a cost of about 90,000 per kid" (0:12:13). Net for the three students returning: "$373,914", with a return on investment of "1.3 years" (0:12:48).
0:15:38	Warrant articles and the tax rate	Sprague: "the operating budget is 31,000,828 and $63" with a rate increase of $0.46; security upgrades removed, "a savings of $0.19"; Bluff roof $100,000 with no rate increase; Disnard fire panel $0.11; radios $0.35 after "that person with a gun downtown" exposed that "schools had no ability to communicate with each other" (0:16:47); bus cameras 51,000 at $0.07. With all articles the budget would be "32,309,013" (0:17:51); with the revenue change the total impact is "$0.90 on the on the thousand." (0:19:07).
0:19:51	Is there a model?	A resident asks about a benchmark model and "the build it and they will come." Nester: "Brattleboro Retreat came, over the summer, and we've looked at their model", plus "a little bit of self design" (0:20:43). Benware: "the reality of it is they're already here." (0:21:49).
0:22:35	A board member's challenge	Pierce asks Benware "who are they?" and "So why are they being segregated?" (0:23:00). The chair: "Michelle. It's it's her question." He moves on at 0:24:09.	OBS
0:24:28	Press question	Hart asks about "the three to 300 to 700 lines". Benware: they are the lines "that you actually have control over"; LeClair: "So 100 account numbers are salaries, 200 account numbers are benefits." (0:26:30).
0:27:02	How cuts are chosen	Young asks "How are the position cuts at those specific schools chosen". LeClair: "it generally starts with, looking at enrollment and saturation data" (0:27:24), then principals' recommendations; the Bluff position "is a retirement" (0:27:46); "the goal right now is to be able to handle everything through either attrition" or reassignment (0:28:17).
0:29:57	Development Authority letter	The chair reads: "The Claremont Development Authority enthusiastically, enthusiastically supports expanded programing for sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center." "The unemployment in Claremont hovers around 2% or less". The letter is signed, as read, by chairman Tom Rock and seven others (0:33:12). Sprague adds that "cutting to the bare bone, serves no one."
0:35:09	Default budget	O'Neill: earlier law "didn't really require us to discuss the line item detail of the default budget"; he cites "House Bill 1307" and "Senate Bill 342" (bill numbers as spoken; not verified for this page). "I distributed a copy of the line item default budget for everybody to look at." (0:35:56). The new rule removes "salaries and benefits of positions that were eliminated in the proposed budget" (0:36:30), and "the default budget is actually $179,000 less than the proposed budget." (0:37:16). "it reduced the default budget below the actual budget for the first time that I can recall." (0:38:28).	POS
0:38:45	If the default passes	Sprague: "if the voters were to approve the default budget of 179,000, I'm not going to pull any punches." He says it "would be painful" and would force choices that hurt programs (0:39:20).
0:42:27	Least restrictive environment	Sprague: "students who do not have disabilities also have a right to learn in the classrooms." Zullo: "I'm assuming that, everything that has been decided on and discussed on is 100% legal because we could be in serious trouble if it were not." (0:43:14).
0:43:53	Point of order	Pierce: "I guess I need to step back off as a board member and just be assistant [a citizen?]". The chair calls "Point of order. Okay, enough." (0:46:55) and "It's not it's not our role during public to to argue with taxpayers." (0:47:03). Towle: a member with questions "might contact Mr. Nestor" (0:47:15).	OBS
0:48:30	The radio article	Zullo wants published detail on "exactly what it includes". Staff: "I got the number based on a quote" and an official RFP would follow if the article passes (0:48:56). If it costs less than the $249,950, Benware: "It's returned back." (0:49:34). Sprague, citing incidents "with, you know, people running around with guns", would "lean toward letting the voters decide." (0:49:42).
0:53:59	Policies	LeClair: the policy subcommittee meets again January 10 with "a whole nother batch". The list Benware reads is garbled in the transcript and is not reproduced here.
0:58:08	Calendar	"January 17th is the joint city Council school board meeting". No date for the next SAU 6 meeting: Erickson, "There is no date on the calendar at the moment." (0:58:54).

Items flagged for review

These flags are a reviewer's aid, not findings of violation and not legal advice. Each one names the rule it rests on, as that rule read on January 2, 2019, or is labeled an observation where no verified rule applies. The hearing date itself raises no issue: it fell 35 days before the February 6 deliberative session, more than the 25 days RSA 32:5, I requires, and before the third Tuesday in January set by RSA 40:13, II-a.

MEDIUM No notice, agenda, handouts or minutes for this hearing and meeting survive in any district share

MAP.md records no Drive material for this meeting. RSA 32:5, I required public notice of the hearing "at least 7 days in advance"; RSA 91-A:2, II required minutes within five business days, and from January 1, 2019, the day before this meeting, its new sentence required that "The names of the members who made or seconded each motion shall be recorded in the minutes." Neither the notice nor the minutes can be checked. The record has a second gap: after the three-minute break the recording resumes in the middle of a discussion of a motion to separate the radio article (0:48:30), and the motion itself, its seconder and any call to order of the regular session are not on tape. This page applies the MEDIUM limb of the project's severity rule because the board's practice of keeping and approving minutes is on the record of the preceding meeting (December 19, 2018), and the online shares do not reach back to 2019. The handouts the business administrator distributed (the line-item default budget and the article totals, 0:35:56, 0:37:40) are part of what is missing.

Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2019 codification; source note ends 2018, 244:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2019); RSA 32:5, I (2018 codification; source note ends 2018, 246:1)

OBSERVATION A board member's questions were cut off during the public hearing

During the public-question period a board member challenged the alternative program, asking "So why are they being segregated?" (0:23:00), and later said she would "step back off as a board member" to ask her questions (0:43:53). The chair ruled her out of order, saying it was "not our role during public to to argue with taxpayers" (0:47:03), and a colleague suggested she take questions to the special education director (0:47:15). RSA 32:5, I gives the hearing to "public testimony", so a chair may keep it for the public, and the board had voted the program forward on December 19. The exchange is noted because members do speak during this hearing as presenters, and the member said "Some of the board members are just seeing this today." (0:46:14). No rule verified for this page governs members' speech at the hearing.

Sources: RSA 32:5, I (2018 codification)

POSITIVE The default budget was presented line by line at the first hearing, and the board presented its own budget with published rules for public questions

RSA 40:13, XI(a), as it read on this date, required only that "The default budget shall be disclosed and presented for questions and discussion at the first budget hearing". The business administrator did that and more: he handed out the line-item default budget and the statutory language, explained the 2018 change that removes eliminated positions from the default budget, and gave the result, $179,000 below the proposed budget (0:35:09 to 0:37:16). The rule he described matches RSA 40:13, IX(b) as amended in 2018. The three budget-subcommittee members presented the budget themselves instead of leaving it to the administration (0:00:10), the chair read rules giving each resident three minutes and a second turn (0:01:14), and staff answered every question asked from the floor, including the press.

Sources: RSA 40:13, IX(b) and XI(a) (2018 codification; source note ends 2018, 241:1, 2 and 313:1, 2, eff. Aug. 2018)

Appendix: source files

Official and public sources

Cablecast: SCHOOL BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING of 1-2 (show 10185; run time from the Cablecast API not retrieved, the API returned 403 on 2026-10-02)
Google Drive: no hearing notice, agenda, budget handout, default budget form or minutes. MAP.md: "neither share holds a year folder older than 2022, and the Meeting Minutes share starts at 2023 (checked 9/26/26)." Not searched again for this page, per the run instructions for meetings with no Drive material.

Project files

Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.

Dialogue/10185 SchoolBoardBudgetHearing010219.mp4.CSV (390 attributed rows; the basis of this page)
Input/Videos/10185 SchoolBoardBudgetHearing010219.mp4
Input/Transcripts/10185 SchoolBoardBudgetHearing010219.mp4.json
Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 91
Scripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/10185 SchoolBoardBudgetHearing010219.mp4.md (speaker attribution report)

Laws and rules cited on this page

RSA 32:5, I, 2018 codification (source note ends 2018, 246:1, eff. Aug. 11, 2018): budget hearing at least 25 days before the meeting, 7 days' notice, public testimony
RSA 40:13, II-a, IX(b) and XI(a), 2018 codification (source note ends 2018, 241:1, 2 and 313:1, 2): January hearing calendar, default budget definition, disclosure at the first budget hearing
RSA 91-A:2, II, 2019 codification (source note ends 2018, 244:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2019): minutes, including the names of movers and seconders