| 0:01:12 | Framing | The chair: "The three school budget was not advanced to this hearing and will not be discussed tomorrow at our regularly scheduled meeting." Counsel is present for procedural questions (0:02:32). Angell: if the board closes the hearing tonight, "no increases to the proposed budget can occur after this public hearing." (0:05:07). | POSITIVE |
| 0:05:39 | Option A: four-school aligned | K–2, 3–5, middle and high school. "The proposed budget for this is $44,844,373." "It's a $1,664,809 change from the the current year, and the percent is 3.86." (0:06:03). The ballot will print the prior year's cost per pupil "which is $26,012.84" and proficiency of 35% ELA, 25% math and 29% science (0:07:03). Default "44,000,490 $49,704" [$44,449,704 in the minutes] (0:07:37). | POSITIVE |
| 0:08:58 | Option A rationale | Kennedy: aligning grades puts service providers in one building, balances class sizes, supports grade-level teams and staffing for all three tiers; "we're not reducing anybody that we already have" (0:10:59); a shuttle bus between schools with one drop-off point and staggered starts (0:12:24). | |
| 0:12:51 | Option A revenue, rate and default | Local revenue "would be $4,815,880"; "Adequacy aid would be $16,931,007." Rate: "estimated local tax rate to be $80.80" [the minutes give $18.80: $1.23 state, $17.57 local]. Default from "$43,179,564": debt service "a reduction of $7,693.48"; salaries "an increase of $876,001.63" (0:14:54); health insurance "$1,053,316.60"; school lunch $190,000; SAU services in-house, "a reduction to the operating budget of $828,375.77" (0:15:29); special education "by $148,240 by cents"; Bluff closure "a reduction of the budget of $161,350"; total "budget is $44,449,703.53" (0:15:58). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:16:24 | Option B: current configuration | Two K–5 schools, middle and high school. "The proposed budget for this is $46,211,951. The dollar change to the current year is $3,032,387, for 7.02%." (0:06:27). Ballot text read at 0:16:53: "Should this article be defeated, the default budget shall be $47,800,535". Kennedy: continuity and no further transitions (0:17:49). Rate $19.91 (0:19:07). Default lines (0:20:00): salaries and benefits "but including eliminated, are" "$4,572,300.48. Health insurance would be $707,849.60." Other lines as in Option A; "So the total default budget would be $47,800,535.38." (0:20:45). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:21:52 | CAA warrant article | Cost items: $0 for FY2026–27; for FY2027–28 the transcript has "will range between 25,800 and $71.82 two, $103,487.25" [the minutes: $25,871.82 to $103,487.25] (0:22:16). Kennedy: year-two cost-of-living adjustment tied to CPI "with the floor when the low incarnate is 1% and no higher than 4%", and a joint labor committee to study compensation (0:23:05). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:23:56 | Bluff and 52 Maple Avenue | Both articles authorize sale or lease, "subject to the district's compliance with the statutory right of first refusal provision granted to Turner Schools by RSA" 194:61 [charter schools] (0:23:56, 0:25:54). Kennedy: Bluff could house a nonprofit special-education collaborative, "creating our own out of district placement in district" (0:24:50); the Masonic Temple would be sold (0:26:46). | POSITIVE |
| 0:27:09 | Budget-cap petition | Angell reads it: "Shall we adopt the provisions of RSA 325 and implement a budget cap whereby the School Board or Budget Committee shall not submit a recommended budget that is higher than the 2025 2026 fiscal year per pupil cost" times ADM plus CPI inflation; 3/5 vote. His estimate: "a comparable budget of $35,700,906. This represents a $9,143,468 decrease, or 20.39%" against Option A, with possible responses including closing the vocational center, "eliminating athletics, eliminating extracurricular activities" and Maple Avenue (0:28:16); "The goal is to move to a two school model that utilizes the Tech Center." (0:29:13). Kennedy: the hearing on the article is "to be determined" (0:30:12). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:32:51 | First comments | Ellerkamp: "I would like to propose we put the free school option back on the table." and "You publicly put your name on a ballot. You have responsibility." (0:34:10). Porter on the tech center; Angell: "These are just items that I came up when I was trying to calculate what the impact is for that particular article" (0:36:14). Bean on the petition; Angell: "It was filed timely.", signed by "58 Claremont residents who signed a petition" (0:36:49). | |
| 0:38:01 | Williams's questions | "a decision was made at the last meeting about what we as a community actually get a say in" (0:38:39); cost per pupil against private-school proficiency; school-lunch debt; the default's tax impact. Angell: the default's tax impact will be calculated for the next night; Option B was built "when I was asked to build the operating budget, it's as is today" (0:41:17). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:42:29 | The administrators' agreement | Demars: "the average principal in the state of New Hampshire last year, base salary is $103,000" and "In Claremont, the average for our principles is $20,000 a year, 19,700 and changed." [above it] (0:43:26); "It's the principal for Stevens High School. Fully burdened. Costs $185,167." (0:43:56); "in order to have a collective bargaining in dealing with a union, you have to have ten members" (0:44:33). Second turn: "we're at 97% on the health insurance taxpayer funding" (1:09:48); "I've been told that this agreement has already been ratified." (1:10:56). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:45:22 | Amending the cap | Barton asks whether the petition can be amended. O'Shaughnessy: few amendments are possible; if adopted the cap applies in future years, "But it requires a supermajority vote to override a tax cap" (0:46:39). Angell: "this budget models that we propose tonight does not include funding any of of the deficit" (0:48:57). Barton on teachers: "They're the reason we are out of debt." (0:49:24). | OBSERVATION |
| 0:50:09 | SAU building, benefits | Cogswell: "So what is the need for a large administrative office building?" Angell: "I think it would be detrimental for Stevens High School if we lose the land." (0:51:07). Luther: "you've got a gold plated package that caters to very little older teachers" (0:52:46). | |
| 0:55:16 | Why Option B costs more | Angell: 14 positions and an "additional eight teachers, reduced in option A" (0:55:54); "we had 78 vacancies"; "our attrition rate is about 25 to 30 teachers every year". He kept vacant positions in the models because teachers search "the budget document looking for their own name" (0:56:47). Option B "has every single position" (0:57:32) at the board's request; "it will never meet the efficiencies of option A" (0:58:19). Rapp: "it shows that the SEC is understaffed" [SAU] (0:59:51). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:00:19 | Buildings and the cap | Anderson: "We really need to start looking at selling buildings" (1:00:48). Rhines: "I really hope the school board comes out against this article." (1:02:02). Williams: "I'm having to make a decision, Lauren, about raising the rent on my disabled, sorry, my disabled tenant" (1:06:16). Ellerkamp: "School board has no business being in the real estate business." (1:06:45); "We wouldn't have a $5 million deficit if every every building in this town paid their tax bill." (1:07:13). | |
| 1:11:46 | Capacity, aid, special education | Peabody: capacities are in the January 7 packet. Angell on the hold-harmless grant: "that amount that kicked in was just about $1.3 million", not guaranteed for FY28 (1:12:41). Special education: "to 30% of our students have special ed and I'm sorry, 33." (1:14:24). On leasing Bluff: "Right now, we just need permission from the taxpayers to move forward with that." (1:17:19). | |
| 1:18:38 | How the cap would bite | Angell: "I've cut out about $5 million out of the current year operating budget." (1:19:01); because the cap's base is this year's actual per-pupil cost, "it drives down artificially the pure per pupil cost" (1:19:51). The account credited to O'Shaughnessy by the minutes: "School district budget cap was adopted last in 2024. Went into effect October 1st, 2024. It's brand new." (1:21:49); "This would be the first district that passes that kind of a tax cap." (1:22:32). Luther: "I would love to have a CFO report" (1:23:15). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:24:08 | Evidence for alignment | Angell on his former district: "Last year they got 90% in 96% math proficiency for their fourth grade." (1:24:22), with added interventionists, mentoring and evaluation. Beaton cites special-education compliance and asks for a year to plan. Angell: "If we don't manage the budget, the taxpayers are going to manage it." (1:30:06). | |
| 1:31:13 | Busing and staffing ratio | Hemingway: "we got a total budget for bussing of $1,821,519, which is up 179,000 from last year"; "There's 348.75 staff members." (1:32:58). Angell: "I've been actively discussing with a couple of school members about going out to bid for transportation services" (1:34:32); selling the Dow building would mean losing parking (1:36:07). | |
| 1:36:32 | Teachers and subgroups | Lavallette (minutes): "our solution is in RSA 189. Believe it's 14 f master teachers" (1:36:39); the citation is the speaker's and was not checked. Kennedy: "there should not be a large disparity in terms of growth" between subgroups (1:38:26). | |
| 1:39:25 | Amending the cap's base year | Barton asks whether the base year could be changed to FY2024–25. Angell: "You cannot change the language. You can't add or subtract." (1:40:12). Barton: "the public should not be voting for three different budgets" (1:41:52). | OBSERVATION |
| 1:42:23 | Stipends | Kennedy: some letters of agreement came from ESSER-era funds and "some of them were not exactly sure the rationale for the numbers behind them" (1:43:03). Angell: "any stipends that we're issuing are tied directly to the CBA agreement" (1:43:36). Demars: "There should be accountability and transparency." (1:45:09). Angell can produce the data; "It takes me about half an hour to 45 minutes" (1:47:16). | |
| 1:50:37 | Hearing closed | The chair: "That we will be unable to make any increases to that budget by closing this public hearing" (1:50:48). Voice vote; "Seeing none, the public hearing is closed." (1:51:04). | POSITIVE |