New policy would remove school board from budget process

BRISTOL — The Newfound Regional School Board will take up a policy change that would eliminate one of its most important roles, that of developing an operating budget, at its Monday, Sept. 26 meeting.

The new policy would cede the budget procedure to the superintendent, who would establish guidelines for its development and submit the administration’s budget recommendations directly to the Newfound Area School District Budget Committee.

The draft policy removes the language in the existing budget policy that recognizes “One of the primary responsibilities of the School Board is to secure adequate funds to carry out a high level educational program,” continuing to say, “The adopted annual school budget is the fiscal outline of the District’s education program; it is the legal basis for the establishment of tax rates. The annual school budget process is an important function of school district operations and should foster communications with the school organization and with the residents of the District.”

School boards normally review administrators’ budgets as part of their duties, ensuring that the requests are educationally justified and match the school board’s priorities. Those decisions are sometimes difficult, especially when operating as Newfound does under a tax cap.

The budget committee’s role is to provide a further level of scrutiny to make sure that the school district’s recommendations are reasonable from a taxpayer’s perspective. The school board’s review offers a buffer between purely educational perspectives and concerns about the tax impact of those expenditures.

Minutes of the school board’s policy committee state that the superintendent, Pierre Couture, submitted the draft policy with a note that it was “Updated to reflect SB2 protocol.”

“SB2” is the popular term for the state's Official Ballot Act, RSA 40:13, which replaces the traditional town or school district meeting with a deliberative session, in which warrant articles are discussed and potentially amended, and a “second session” in which voters cast ballots to determine the outcome of those articles. Newfound Area School District operates under the terms of RSA 40:13.

Proposed budgets are developed prior to any meeting, so it is unclear how the policy change relates to the meeting protocol.

The policy committee meeting minutes indicate that school board chair Melissa Suckling of Danbury and New Hampton member Fran Wendelboe voted to recommend the change. Alexandria member Kimberly Bliss, who also serves on the policy committee, was absent at that meeting.

Attempts to reach Suckling for further explanation of the change were unsuccessful on Thursday.

The school board will consider the changes at its meeting on Monday, Sept. 26, at 6:30 p.m. at Newfound Regional High School.