Bridgewater, Groton and Hebron examine withdrawal from SAU 4 under new law

BRISTOL — With the passage and signing of House Bill 349, the towns of Bridgewater, Groton and Hebron have established a steering committee to look into withdrawing from School Administrative Unit 4 and forming their own “special-purpose school district,” but members “have interest in a continuing and mutually beneficial relationship with SAU 4,” according to Bridgewater Selectboard member Terry Murphy.

Murphy asked Newfound Area School Board Chair Melissa Suckling, Vice Chair Kimberly Bliss, and Superintendent Steven Nilhas to help map out a plan to present at the March 2024 town meetings in those three communities. That is when each town will decide whether it wants to move forward with the creation of a new school district.

Traditionally, withdrawal from a cooperative school district has required the approval of each town in that district. In addition to signing HB 349 this year, Gov. Chris Sununu signed HB 530, which allows a three-fifths majority of voters in one or more towns to leave a cooperative school district, and it sets a high bar for the remaining towns to prevent them from leaving.

The Newfound Area School District is a special case, because the state Legislature in 1997 created the Bridgewater-Hebron Village District as a separate political subdivision to allow it to build its own village school, leased to the Newfound district for $1 per year. Newfound handles the educational component while the village district is responsible for maintaining the building and grounds.

HB 349 expands the separate political subdivision by allowing it to form its own special-purpose school district that also includes Groton, but it will require affirmative votes by each of those three towns.

The steering committee is charged with looking into the details of how the new district would operate so residents know what to expect when they vote on whether to withdraw from Newfound. The original bill would have given them as much as four years to work out the details, but a Senate amendment shortened that timeframe to give them less than seven months to determine the range of classes to offer — kindergarten through 8th or 12th — whether they would need to arrange for tuition to other schools, what extra curricular offerings they may have to contract for, and potential costs associated with those decisions.

In his correspondence with Suckling, Murphy wrote that the steering committee has started mapping out its structured plan in order to periodically provide updates to citizens ahead of town meeting.

“While we have preliminarily explored viable alternatives, it simply makes more sense to make an attempt at a continued relationship” with SAU 4, Murphy wrote.

Suckling reminded him school board policy requires the full board to decide on committee structure, and she said she is too busy with other matters to meet with the steering committee.

“To me, it’s a significant change in funding and numbers ... I felt it is not a decision I make, that it’s a decision we as a board discuss,” she said at the Aug. 14 school board meeting.

Murphy has asked that school board members from Bridgewater, Groton and Hebron not be appointed because of potential conflicts, and with Suckling excusing herself from the delegation, it left Nathan Saler of New Hampton, Joseph Maloney of Bristol, and Bliss of Alexandria as candidates to meet with the steering committee.

Suckling suggested having two board members participate, and nominated Bliss and Maloney. The board concurred.

Withdrawal by the three towns would reduce the number of members in the Newfound Area School District to four towns, but it could become five if Hill decides to join. The Hill School District currently has a tuition agreement with Newfound for students in grades six through 12, but with its initial 10-year agreement drawing to a close, Hill is exploring whether to become a full member of the school district. Joining would give Hill representation on the school board, which it now lacks.

The questions of joining and withdrawing leave Newfound administrators unsure of the district’s financial future. Should the three towns vote to leave, they would be bound to remain with Newfound another year to avoid disrupting the district’s 2024-25 budget, as well as giving them time to form their own governing structure. Even though the academic year has not begun, Newfound is already entering its 2024-25 budget development season.

Come March, the district will know whether Bridgewater, Groton and Hebron will remain with Newfound, but those towns would still have representation on the school board until 2025. They would be barred from participating in developing the following year’s budget and other matters that would not involve their towns in the future.

Hill’s decision on joining or continuing a tuition agreement with Newfound will not have to come before June of 2024.

Those unanswered questions have made it difficult for the district to address facilities needs at the elementary schools. A building committee has been looking into whether the district should build additions to some elementary schools or to build an entirely new regional elementary school. The lack of clarity on how many towns will be part of the district has pushed a decision out a year, and the development of new guidelines on state building aid may push the decision even further into the future.