Gilford voters to weigh in on budget and teacher contract

GILFORD — Voters will be asked in March to approve money for a new collective bargaining agreement with teachers, as well as a 2020-21 school budget that is roughly the same size as last year’s spending plan.

The school district will hold a deliberative session on Tuesday, Feb. 4, in the high school auditorium to discuss and possibly amend school warrant articles. Voting will take place on Tuesday, March 10, in the Gilford Youth Center.

One warrant article seeks a $26.4 million school budget. Another seeks approval of a 3-year contract for teachers, the first year of which would include $279,447 in additional salary and benefit costs. It would succeed the current contract that has a salary range of about $40,000 to $74,000, depending on experience and academic degree.

Should the budget article be defeated, the default budget would be $25.5 million.

If the budget and contract are approved, the estimated effect on the property tax rate would be an additional 3 cents per $1,000 dollars of assessed valuation, School Board Chairman Chris McDonough said in an interview Friday.

He said efforts are made to be economical.

“Over the last five years on board, we’ve put a lot of effort to get where we are today,” McDonough said. “There used to be regular budget increases of over 3 percent.

“We want to take care of the teachers and provide the necessities to students. We look at what we need versus what we want.”

“We’ve had some declining enrollment, so we’ve been able to reduce staff and lower costs and benefits.”

The district has gone from a total enrollment of 1,253 in 2011-12, to 1,154 this year. Certified staff members have been reduced from 127 to 117, while support staff members have declined from 90 to 71.

The population in the area has been skewing to an older demographic and fewer young people, said School Superintendent Kirk Beitler.

“We have to take a close look at our staffing and ask, ‘Can we maintain similar staffing levels? How does that affect programs? What can we offer for classes, sports programming and other extracurricular activities as well?’

“We definitely have those conversations with the school board. When there are retirements, we discuss how we move forward. Do we need to fill that position or is there some other way to adjust?”

McDonough, the school board chairman, said that, at the deliberative session, he will seek to amend an article he placed on the warrant through a petition drive. That article requested $62,883 to hire an engineer and architect to develop plans and cost estimates for the construction of a multi-sport, artificial turf field and supporting buildings and structures at the Gilford High and Middle School athletic complex.

He said the school board and the budget committee did not support the proposal.

“I will be amending my own petition article down to zero,” he said. “My goal is to keep the project moving and gain support of the school board and define a different funding source, other than tax dollars.”

Warrant articles other than the teacher contract would be paid for with fund balance money. The articles include maintenance funds for roofs and buildings.

The budget presentation included a list of maintenance, capital improvement and technology projects totaling $661,937, the largest of which was $239,680 for auditorium and stage lighting, $107,700 for districtwide replacement cycle for computers, including Chromebooks, and $45,750 for a truck with a plow and sander. One planned project involves security cameras at the elementary school.

Beitler said school security is enhanced through regular meetings with fire and police and various drills and training in ALICE, which stands for alert, lockdown, inform, counter and evacuate — all steps aimed at surviving active-shooter situations.

“ALICE is not just a regular lockdown; it is barricading yourself in the classroom, using something that could be a distraction, giving teachers latitude to make a decision to evacuate if it can be done safely,” Beitler said.

“We emphasize that we are training. If we ever get into a spot, we do the right thing. We’re on alert if we feel there is a threat or a problem. We’re working with children every day, all the time, with behavior, emotions, social interactions, academics.

“We guide them and support them so they can make the progress they need academically, socially and emotionally.”

To contact Rick Green, email rick@laconiadailysun.com.