| 0:01:26 | Bargaining added to the agenda | The superintendent: “we need to discuss some financials with you. And these agreements, with the exception of the paraprofessionals, have not been ratified by the by the parties.” He corrects himself: “The, the SRA, the teachers did ratify, so.” | OBS |
| 0:02:30 | The January schedule | Irish asks whether the budget will still be live at the public hearing. The superintendent: “The public hearing on the 11th does not imply that we're done.” and “So I think meeting on the seventh would be premature.” | |
| 0:05:27 | Superintendent's report | A forum the district was invited to, “navigating school leadership in rough Seas”, with the New Hampshire School Administrators Association and the Nellie Mae foundation, on superintendent turnover, recruitment and “difficult public meeting climate”. He reads from a magazine article quoting “Alex Herzog, vice president for student and community affairs.” at River Valley Community College and ties it to the district's partnership with the college. | |
| 0:09:03 | Nonpublic session | The chair: “we're going to take a break for nonpublic for negotiations. Get a motion to go on and on public.” Roll call: Irish, Adrian, Herzog, Sprague and Rapp answer yes. The chair: “We'll be back momentarily.” | OBS |
| 0:10:34 | Five agreements to the ballot | Sprague asks whether to act on the nonpublic discussion now; the superintendent: “We could. We could do it publicly now.” He lists the January 3 memo's “five units”. Sprague: “We ratify or approve? What's the operative.” The chair: “Approved for the ballot?” Five motions follow; Adrian abstains on the paraprofessionals (“I stink stain.” [I abstain]). No terms or costs are stated during the votes. | OBS |
| 0:14:03 | The board's legal duty | The superintendent: “School boards have a legal responsibility. In fact, it's even a constitutional duty to ensure that students within the district received their entitlement to an adequate education.” He describes the board as “stewards of the taxpayers dollars” who are “also responsible to provide an adequate education for children legally”. | OBS |
| 0:15:17 | Five years of budgets | FY2013 up less than 1%, FY2014 1%, FY2015 5.8% because of the Stevens renovation bond, FY2016 below FY2015 though taxes still rose; “over a period of fiscal year 13, the fiscal year 17, the budget has increased 1.57%”. Because the budget has been held down, the result is “the default budget being larger than the budget”. | |
| 0:18:35 | Stabilization aid | The superintendent: “there will be a reduction in Claremont's adequacy aid, a 4% incremental reductions”, each year for the next four years unless the law changes; either programs change or “we're going to expect the taxpayer to make up the difference”. He notes Adrian's contact with state legislators. | OBS |
| 0:20:45 | Corrected draft | The December first draft, about $1 million over the current year, “is now 552 $553,000 larger than the current year”; “this $552,000 increase represents a 1.7% percent, 1.76% increase”, and “it does not include the collective bargaining increases”. “The worst thing you can do with a budget is just to reduce it as if it was a math problem, because every reduction has an impact.” He asks the board to say now whether it wants a smaller increase. | |
| 0:24:27 | Inconsistencies in the draft | Sprague found “a fair number of inconsistencies” between budgeted and actual figures and has no year-to-date spending: “Flying blind.” The superintendent: “The document you have in front of you is is outdated.” and the new draft reflects “more than $450,000 corrections”. | |
| 0:27:08 | A Saturday work session | The chair: “I feel like we've gotten into the budget process very late”, and later cites “the lack of experience with the budget process that that this board has”. Irish first prefers one-on-one questions to O'Neill; the board settles on meeting together to build a single list. | OBS |
| 0:32:43 | Three budget documents | O'Neill: the proposed 2017-18 column “currently has $31,000,987, $987,890 in it”; against the 2016-17 operating budget with the three contracts and background checks added, “I come up with a variance of 552. 645”. With no bargaining costs, “you're looking at, you know, an 80 $0.80 tax increase on a $552,000 increase in the budget”. Adequacy aid now looks to fall only about $50,000 rather than $250,000, because rising enrollment offsets the stabilization cut. | |
| 0:38:44 | Salary recap; no new positions | The third document lists everyone the district pays. Asked about new positions, O'Neill: “There is no new positions in this budget version.” except those at the high school, which the principal will present. | |
| 0:39:46 | Warrant articles and how to count them | Security upgrades proposed at 141,000 against 121,000 last year; a building capital reserve (with $200,000 already in it, O'Neill would skip a year); roofing at $100,000. Irish: “Its $141,000 increase to the budget we already have in front of us.” O'Neill: “we need to compare appropriation to appropriation”, so the tax effect is the $20,000 change, about three cents. | |
| 0:44:27 | Maple Avenue insulation; size factor | Foam insulation was sprayed on the boiler-room ceiling because the classroom above reached 85 degrees. LeClair explains the administrators' contract pays a building-size factor. | |
| 0:48:01 | Medicaid billing | Staff log service hours in the Lumia system [spelling unverified] for Medicaid reimbursement. O'Neill: “It's significant. It's I think this year was $600,000.” With an outside provider, “we went from 200,000 to 600,000. You pay 9%.” | |
| 0:53:23 | Budgets rising while spending falls | Sprague's example, Maple Avenue administrative supplies: “budget in 1415 is 3000. They use 1221.”, then budgets of 2,500 and 2,000, now 4,500 proposed. O'Neill: “we had a bad policy of freezing budgets, unfreezing budgets”; the extra $2,000 per principal is a placeholder for field trips moved out of transportation wages. | |
| 0:57:27 | Placeholders and year-end spending | Irish: “I want to make sure we don't have money as placeholders” and “there should be a mechanism in place that doesn't allow for the month or two month before the fiscal year is over. People are allowed to just spend what's left of their budget.” O'Neill on returned fund balance: “Unfortunately, three years ago we gave back more than we should have, and we're still struggling to get caught up on that.” | |
| 1:02:23 | Questions welcomed | The superintendent: “I came up with $1.5 million worth of questions. It's a good process.” | POS |
| 1:02:38 | Using the technical center building | The chair asks about more high-school electives in the building. LeClair: “As long as you're not displacing a current program or preventing a another CTE program from coming in.” Irish wants the center's full cost: “my hunch is, I think it's going to be pretty pricey for what we're paying on a per student charge here”; “Right now with four programs, it's not doing that.” | |
| 1:06:26 | Bargaining cost items disclosed | O'Neill's 2016-17 to 2017-18 comparison: teachers' first-year “cost items for the first year at 268,000 for 68” and administrators' 29,723 go in the operating budget; the paraprofessional, maintenance and custodial and secretarial agreements are separate articles. “So overall, you look at $1.39 increase or 965,000 or 77 increase in the overall appropriation.” Why not earlier: “I couldn't really go public with what those numbers look like.” (1:11:17). | OBS POS |
| 1:11:33 | Technology replacement | Sprague: the Maple Avenue technology line shows “an increase of $41,350” with no explanation. The technology director: Maple Avenue staff computers are due on the replacement cycle, as are Bluff and the high school. O'Neill: the board could choose to stretch the cycle. | |
| 1:14:04 | Saturday session set | The superintendent: “we are meeting then Saturday the seventh, eight, 8:00 here in the Texan.” [tech center] The chair: “And Penny post as well, only to warn the meeting.” [post as well, to warn the meeting]. Later: “I'll also send out an agenda that's going to be worn to all the members.” [warned] (1:24:56). | OBS POS |
| 1:17:52 | Turnaround before January 11 | LeClair: “Are you expecting the answers at the January 11th board meeting?” Irish: the 11th “is going to be a lot of discussion”; answers can come as they are ready. | |
| 1:20:47 | Six policies adopted | Irish lists them, saying “I think we just postponed do the lateness of the hour at the last meeting.” Sprague's motion names the codes as transcribed: “KHK hb GBEBCKDCA and j j j.” and IHPBA-R. Approved by voice vote. | |
| 1:21:50 | Seats on the ballot | The superintendent: “Alex Herzog and Frank Sprague term ends in March.” Letters of intent go to the superintendent; the district will advertise the filing period. | |