Hill voters choose Newfound School District by 2-vote margin

By Thomas P. Caldwell

HILL — Voters of the Hill School District came out in force on March 18 to decide whether to end their Authorized Regional Enrollment Area agreement with Franklin and enter into a 10-year tuition agreement with the Newfound Area School District. Both measures passed, but the tuition agreement vote was a close, 75-73 decision.

Discussion on those two articles, both of which went to ballot votes, took up most of the three-and-a-half-hour district meeting. The $2,114,133 school district budget and other warrant articles took up barely half an hour, in keeping with past years when the meeting has taken as little as 12 minutes for completion.

The Edward Amsden Auditorium was close to capacity, with all chairs taken and some residents standing, while non-residents lined up along the back wall to observe the discussion. Franklin's mayor, Ken Merrifield, and some city councilors, along with Franklin School Board Chair Tamara Feener and Representative Werner Horn, were there to see the results, as were School Administrative Unit 4 Superintendent Stacy Buckley and Newfound School Board members Jeff Levesque and Benjamin LaRoche.

Voters found it difficult to separate the article seeking to dissolve the AREA agreement from the next article, seeking approval of the Newfound tuition agreement, and Moderator Gerard Desrochers allowed some crossover discussion.

The Hill School Board emphasized that withdrawing from the AREA agreement would provide the school district with a choice of where to send its students, as well as giving Hill more bargaining power than it has while locked into the existing agreement.

School District Attorney John Teague explained that AREA agreements originally were intended as a means of transitioning into a cooperative school district, but most of them ended up stalling, and he said there is a lot of discussion at the state level on whether the AREA school districts should continue. Most AREA agreements are established for a specific period of time, but Hill's agreement with Franklin has no end point and the current agreement has been in force for 11 years, he said. The article on the warrant was the sole means of ending the agreement, he told the audience.

Many parents, however, said they saw the article as a means of forcing the voters to approve the Newfound agreement, rather than offering a choice. Many questioned what would happen if they voted to withdraw and then turned down the Newfound agreement. Would the school board be able to get a tuition agreement with Franklin in time for the coming school year?

School Board Chair Shelly Henry said they would be forced to do something, but she could not say what it would be. Teague suggested that the school board might put together a one-year tuition agreement, and then negotiate a long-term agreement that would come back to the voters for approval.

Most speakers, including current and former Franklin students, defended the city's school system, saying it was getting a bad rap. They shared anecdotes about caring teachers and student successes and said Franklin's test scores were as good or better than Newfound's. They also questioned why, if Hill was concerned about Franklin's educational offerings, the board had not raised those issues with Franklin officials.

Vice Chair Nancy Coffin said Hill has brought up educational concerns to the SAU 18 Board, but "That hasn't been the focus." Issues such as the search for a new superintendent have taken up that board's time, she said. "They're still not talking about education."

The withdrawal decision required a ballot vote. With 161 residents casting votes, the withdrawal passed, 93-68.

Going on to the Newfound agreement, residents complained about a lack of choice with only one tuition plan on the warrant. A motion to table the article was defeated, as was a proposed amendment that would make it a five-year agreement, rather than 10.

Karen Hildreth warned that no one knows what the costs will be in the coming years, and being locked into a 10-year agreement will keep boosting property taxes higher.

Selectman Mike Brady said that, having sat on the AREA withdrawal committee, he was convinced the school district should go along with Newfound. "Without a doubt," he said, "anyone who reviewed that information would know that Newfound is the proper alternative."

Although that article did not have a legal requirement for a ballot vote, residents called for one. When the results showed a two-vote margin for passage, they called for a recount. Both times, the vote was 75 for the tuition agreement and 73 opposed.

Voters also approved the $2,114,133 budget; set stipends for school district officers; agreed to place $7,000 from the unexpended fund balance into the special education expendable trust fund; approved placing $3,500 from the unexpended fund balance into the school building and maintenance expendable trust fund; and discontinued the heat system fund and placed the $350 plus interest from that account into the school building and maintenance expendable trust fund.