| 0:00:42 | How the hearing will run | Whitney: "Here present is everyone from the public who is taking time out of their evening to come to this public hearing and share your thoughts on the topic, which is, the budget for fiscal year 2526." Order: Sprague, Henry and the administration, the rest of the finance committee, then the podium. "This evening it is a one topic agenda. So please limit your comments to the budget. Every citizen will have three minutes to provide their comment." For anyone unwilling to speak: "you can simply come up and say, I'm with her or I'm with him and I agree." | POSITIVE |
| 0:02:24 | Default budget: $42,772,778 | Henry read the definition: "the amount of the same appropriations as contained and the operating budget authorized for the previous year reduced and increased as the case may be, by debt services, contracts, and other obligations previously incurred or mandated by law and reduced by one time expenditures contained in the operating budget." She stopped there. From the $39,962,266 FY25 budget she reduced "$6,000,622 $622,120" [about $6.62 million] for the bond payment and out-of-district tuition and transportation, and increased it by $9,432,632 for bonds, contracts, health, dental, retirement, workers' compensation, SAU expenses and out-of-district tuition. "So the default budget is $42,772,778." The proposed budget "is $42,000,933 and 560 $0.04 [$42,933,564], which makes the proposed budget $160,786 more than our default." No reduction for eliminated positions was named. | MEDIUM POSITIVE |
| 0:04:49 | Sprague: how the budget was cut | Process began October 2024. "The initial budget presented to the Finance Committee of the school board reflected a $4.2 million increase, roughly an 11% increase," before the teachers', paraprofessionals' and administrators' contracts; drivers included about $1.5 million in health insurance, the teachers' contract at 514,000, and increases of $1.5 million at the middle school and $1.8 million at the high school, "to a great degree, were driven by out of district placements". Goal: "to limit the tax impact of the budget to a 5% increase." Unaddressed, budget plus contracts "would irresponsibly place an unreasonable burden on taxpayers, it would be 12 or 13%." | |
| 0:08:02 | Preschool suspended | Sprague: board data showed the preschool program "has not helped identified students integrate into kindergarten, and even model students underperformed compared to their peers who attend private preschool, Head Start or no program at all." The program "will require a complete rebuilding to meet the definition of quality". "The board has requested and the administration has reluctantly agreed to suspend the preschool classroom until critical work at the elementary schools is completed." | MEDIUM |
| 0:13:40 | Pratt: budget and strategic plan | After the recruitment video, Pratt read a statement: the budget is tied to the strategic plan, with focus on student well-being, family and community engagement and district-office cohesion. "This includes not allowing resources to support programs that are not delivering the outcomes our students deserve." | |
| 0:16:52 | What drove the increase | Henry: health insurance up 15%, dental 10%, "a total of $1.2 million to the bottom line of our budget." Out-of-district placement up 1.4 million; special education 87,000. "the overall budget increase was 2.9 million or 7.44%." Revenues up 2.1 million, adequacy aid up 1.9 million, investment income up 175,000 after moving to a sweep account ("We were making $20,000 a year. Now we're making over 200,000"). "after revenues, the total increase is $845,952, which is 2.1% before other Warren [warrant] articles." The Budget Summary gives the same $845,952 (2.12%). | |
| 0:21:15 | Hold-harmless step-down | Adequacy aid rises to about 16 million, driven by the extraordinary-needs grant factor ("they change that from being 8500 to 11,500"), even though "we're down on student count for the estimated." The hold-harmless grant will fall: "It's going to decrease by $329,386. Until this number is gone." | |
| 0:22:07 | The four warrant articles | Article 1: "two school board member openings for three year terms, the moderator, the district clerk and the district treasurer for one year terms." Article 2: general fund $39,468,564 plus a $3,465,000 grant and food-service budget. Pratt corrected Henry's total from the floor ("393. 43."); Henry: "Oh, I'm sorry. 42. My bad." The warrant figure: "42,000,933 564" [$42,933,564]. Tax impact: "a 27 cent increase, or 1.9% to the tax rate", plus "$0.42 to the tax rate, or 2.9%" for the first year of the teachers' contract. | |
| 0:25:23 | Social workers moved to a grant | Henry: "We did remove two social worker positions from the budget, but they will be funded by grants." Pratt: "between 125 and $175,000 a year". The Budget Summary shows line 2113 Social Worker falling from $302,466 to $113,602 (-62.44%). | |
| 0:26:14 | Costs moved between lines | Henry moved technology staff into regular education and separated speech and language "because that's where they belong for our state DOH [DOE]". Budget Summary: line 2150 Speech Pathology from $103,105 to $376,198; line 2160 C.O.T.A from $331,411 to $562,648; line 1230 Related Services to zero. | |
| 0:28:21 | Positions adjusted, and "Pre-K program close" | Henry, on "budget related FTE adjustments": "we have adjusted our efforts with five teachers and benefits for 334,004.35 pair of positions, with benefits for 185,000." She reduced a middle-school guidance post, added a teaching program at Sugar River Valley at 102,000, and lowered amounts budgeted for top-of-scale vacancies. Then: "Pre-K program close but still meet special education needs for all the students that we serve." | MEDIUM |
| 0:30:28 | O'Hearn on staffing | "Thanks mayor" [Mary]. Current vacancies across teaching, paraprofessional and counselor positions; "we hire, just about 30 to 40 staff members annually, 22 teachers last year, 18 paraprofessionals and a counselor." "I think we need to use attrition as an opportunity". Pratt: turnover "Still significantly less than you saw in 23 and 24." | |
| 0:35:36 | Articles 3 and 4 | Article 3, three-year paraprofessional contract: "for fiscal year 2526 the increase would be 168,000 2627 139 2728 137. So the tax impact for the first year of the contract is 0.97%, or $0.14 on the tax rate." Article 4, one-year administrators' contract: "78,045% or $0.06 on the tax rate" (the minutes give .45% and 6 cents). One year "because we're trying to get our contracts to alternate". All contracts together: "It would be $0.89 to the tax rate". | |
| 0:39:50 | The ESSER cliff | Henry: "we had used Esser for about $600,000 in 24 for out of district placement costs. That is now being burdened by us now." Pratt: "$660,000 out of s [ESSER] or before we no longer have." The two figures were not reconciled on the record. | |
| 0:41:02 | Whitney: what the board found | "We discovered that we did not have a functioning curriculum." At 0:46:02: "We're only receiving 67% reimbursement for our special education costs, so we had to take money somewhere else in the budget to cover those costs." Then: "Anything related to special education is utterly fixed. It's like a sacred cow." On preschool: "$17,000 per student per year at the preschool, with roughly a total of $50,000 that is expended from Claremont taxpayers on a child that goes for three years". | OBSERVATION |
| 0:49:49 | Crawford: history and scale | Three drivers: the end of ESSER, years of uncompetitive pay, and curriculum. She pointed viewers to the finance committee's recordings on CCTV. Scale: about 1,500 students, with IEP rates put as "That's a 27% that compares to about 18% statewide"; about 327 full-time and 75 part-time employees. | |
| 0:57:27 | Collective bargaining | Whitney thanked the teachers for accepting "a very modest proposal" so paraprofessional pay could rise: "For the first time in many, many years, our teachers salaries are competitive." Crawford negotiated the paraprofessional contract, Hawkins the administrators'. | |
| 1:00:55 | Matt Bean, Ward 1: reform, don't remove | "Full disclosure I am the kindergarten first grade, special ed, self-contained teacher at Maple Avenue School, but I'll be making my comments right now as a citizen". "I understand that this decision did not come without an educated decision making process." His ask: "I would like to see the course of action to be reformed our preschool program, not remove our preschool program". | POSITIVE |
| 1:02:45 | Charlene Lovett, Ward 2: early intervention; a $209,178 line | "Good evening. I'm Charlene Lovett, Ward two. I just want to say thank you for the presentation. Because it is much different than when I was on the school board, and I think it's an improvement." "And how much money are we going to spend if we don't do these early interventions?" On a line she did not recognize: "That's for $209,178. So I don't know what that is for." The answer from the table was legal fees. The dialogue file gives it to Whitney; the minutes credit Henry. The Budget Summary shows line 2310 School Board at $209,178, up $5,000. | |
| 1:05:09 | Gary Merchant, Ward 2: the state budget | "Gary Marchant [Merchant], Ward two I'm here as a citizen." At 1:05:33: "I'm concerned about the reduction on special ed from 95% to 67%." "Revenues are down. Safes [the State] been known to downshift things. They downshift pension programs onto us." He then asked what share of the district's three-to-five-year-olds the 43 enrolled children represent. | OBSERVATION |
| 1:07:04 | 43 enrolled, 23 served | Petrin estimated about 300 children aged three to five. Whitney: "the 43 kids, are the total number of students that are enrolled in the program, but only 23 of them. That program exists for 23 students." Typical peers were hard to recruit "because of the hours of the program are not very worker family friendly." The program was opened "to serve special, special needs students to reduce special education costs". | |
| 1:09:14 | What continues | Crawford: "the services that must be delivered to that preschool population are still in the budget." Hawkins, who "spoke in opposition to the preschool being eliminated" at the full board: "We really do not have a choice. And we need to make it better." | |
| 1:11:49 | Pratt: space as well as money | "we're not going to get to universal pre-K all the way." "right now the problem is, is that we don't have the space to have pre-K in all elementary schools". Asked about funding: "Yes in the funding because but you know you can't fund for something if you have no place to put it right." | |
| 1:14:50 | Merchant's second turn: equity | Whitney: "That's your second second time, Mr. Merchant. Go ahead." Merchant: "My concern is that with special ed or with preschool, if it's not universal, it's not equitable." Whitney agreed that equity and access were among the board's objections to the existing program. | POSITIVE |
| 1:17:12 | Hearing closed | "Public hearing is closed." Pratt thanked those who came. Whitney at 1:17:53: "Deliberative session is February 1st." | OBSERVATION POSITIVE |
| 1:18:56 | Rob Lovett: Recovery Friendly Workplace | "My name is Rob Lovett, Ward two. I'm actually coming to you tonight as a representative of the TRC [TLC] Resource Center, as well as the Recovery Friendly Workplace Initiative." The designation "is 100% free to all employers". | |
| 1:21:13 | Merchant: school-funding presentation | "there is going to be a presentation by the New Hampshire School Funding Fairness Project in Newport tomorrow night at 6:00". Crawford asked whether it was nonpartisan; Merchant: "this is Nonpartizan. This is educational only." | |
| 1:23:49 | Make it legible to a lay reader | Skillen: "Public friendly, lay person. Friendly person who can't read charts." Hawkins: "Present it so that it's I as a taxpayer completely understand what that means for me and my taxes." Whitney proposed a sample tax bill; Henry said she had shown a $200,000-house example at the previous deliberative session and would do so again. | POSITIVE |
| 1:27:20 | Vote deferred to January 21 | Petrin: "Do we need a vote to move this? To deliver?" Whitney: "No. We're going to do the vote next Tuesday." At 1:27:29: "We want to give people time to think and reflect. And so there is no emotional voting." The articles were moved at the January 21 meeting at the same dollar figure. | POSITIVE |