Selectmen endorse same school funding forula that failed last year

Following the lead of the Northfield Board of Selectmen, Sanbornton selectmen unanimously endorsed placing the same school funding formula before voters that was narrowly defeated last year.

Selectmen reached the decision last evening after a presentation by Nina Gardner, Vice Chair of the Winnisquam School District and one of Sanbornton’s three members on the nine-member school board. According to Gardner, Tilton, which has been most vocal in demanding a change in the current formula, has expressed a preference for a formula that relies strictly upon Average Daily Membership (ADM) and Equalized Valuation (EV), and has pushed for 70 percent ADM and 30 percent EV.

Such a scenario, however, would boost Sanbornton’s tax rate by $2.60 and Northfield’s by $4.19, an amount that Gardner insisted would never be supported by voters in the two towns. “You’re not going to get people to got to the ballot box to vote for that kind of an increase,” she said. “That’s against their own financial interests.”

Although Tilton has indicated a willingness to phase in the formula so that the tax increase doesn’t hit all at one time, Gardner noted that the formula that all three town’s selectboards endorsed last year had less of an impact, raising Sanbornton’s tax rate by 46 cents and Northfield’s by $1.38. Tilton would witness a drop in its rate of around $3.00.

“But if we want the fixed rate to pass, we have to turn out the voters,” Gardner advised the selectmen. “We only had about 70 voters from Sanbornton vote at last year’s school district meeting.”

Ultimately, the formula went down to defeat, falling short by 20 votes of the two-thirds majority needed for passage. That failure left Tilton frustrated and looking for other solutions, not at all convinced that voters can be persuaded this year to approve what they defeated last year.

But for Gardner and the Sanbornton Board of Selectmen, the negotiated formula of last year stands a far greater chance of winning a nod from voters than something that will dramatically increase taxes in two of the three towns.

“The fixed formula gives everyone some of what they want,” Gardner said, indicating that Tilton will get a cut, and Sanbornton and Northfield can hold down the increases to a palatable amount.

The subject of the formula will be discussed by school officials and the three boards of selectmen at a meeting Friday evening at the SAU offices on Main Street. At that time Gardner said, she’s hopeful a consensus can be reached so that the appropriate article can be crafted to be placed on the towns’ and school warrants.

If no new formula is adopted by voters the existing agreement will continue. For Tilton, the difficulty is that even though it could withdraw from the cooperative school agreement, the cost of such a move would be punitive. The town would still be obligated for the debt incurred on the district’s buildings, and would have to either build new schools for its students or find another district to which it could send its students on a tuition basis.

For that reason, Sanbornton selectmen believe that a compromise is possible, if not likely. “I think everyone wants to reach an agreement that will benefit their respective towns,” said Patsy Wells, chair of the Board of Selectmen.