Voters may have sticker shock, but advocates say changes critical to future of Winnisquam schools

TILTON — On Saturday, at the Winnisquam Regional School District annual meeting, voters in Tilton, Sanbornton and Northfield will be asked to approve a $25.7 million school budget for 2022-23 that is 2.58% lower than this year’s — but it will cost taxpayers more, with a jump especially for Northfield.

That’s due to a mix of factors: reduced state education aid to Northfield, which receives the district’s lion’s share, rising costs in various categories, and the absence of a $3.1 million budget surplus that was returned to taxpayers last year. Between 2020 and 2021, the pandemic decreased school operating expenses and COVID relief funds came to school districts, temporarily lowering school tax rates.

Now it’s back to funding for normal operations, mainly by taxpayers. Rates for WRSD’s three towns are going up — at the same time planned capital improvements — including a sprinkler system, replacement roofs and better security at school buildings, two new career and technical programs, and an elementary school closure – are on the plate.  

Last year the school board, considering declining enrollment and rising maintenance and operating costs, voted to close Union Sanborn School in June, transferring its kindergarten through third graders to Southwick Elementary School in Northfield and Sanbornton Central School, and pre-schoolers to a dedicated space at Winnisquam Regional High School. The changes will start next fall.

Voters at the district meeting on March 19 will evaluate a bundle of renovations and repairs, and decide whether to partially underwrite two new vocational education programs in precision manufacturing and cosmetology. They will also be asked to authorize the sale of the Union Sanborn School building and its grounds (Article 3). A planned grade redistribution, which includes sending fifth graders to classrooms at the middle school in September, will consolidate students and educate them more efficiently and economically, according to administrators, and school board and budget committee heads.

“I think voters have to make their own assessment of whether what we’re proposing is good for education in the district. I believe it is,” said Nina Gardner of Sanbornton, WRSD budget committee chair, who has served on the school board or budget committee for 31 years. “All of us have to make decisions on how this affects us personally. To me education is about our future and our communities and it’s what we should be focused on. It’s really important for people to come out and hear the explanations behind these things.” 

“We hope voters will come and hear the presentations. A lot of time and energy went into this, and I hope they will vote to support it,” said WRSD School Board Chair Jasen Stock of Tilton. “I hope those who attend will recognize that we have five big votes to take that are really important to setting the stage for the district to move forward.”

Presentations on these proposals at school board meetings, with opportunities for public input, drew very few taxpayers or parents over the course of several years, according to administrators and school board leaders. The district meeting, which begins at 9 a.m. in the Winnisquam Regional High School gymnasium, is a chance to learn about the proposals, the data and the reasons behind them, and to cast an informed vote for or against funding the projects recommended.

2022-2023 school budget

District Superintendent Robert Seeward said most operating expenses will remaining the same, while the next year’s budget will drop by $680,833 overall. Savings will occur as a result of closing Union Sanborn School, which serves students in pre-k through grade three, and the district spending less on salaries and benefits. Roughly 11 staff and teaching positions are removed for next year, including the assistant principal and nurse at Union Sanborn and a middle school math teacher. Special education spending is increasing by $273,964, health and dental insurance costs are going up 5%, and transportation costs are rising 8%. Contracted services related to student behavior at the middle and high schools will run $96,000 in 2022-2023.

“The savings in human costs is a little over $500,000. It’s a tax saving this year, into the foreseeable future,” and the second year in a row that the district’s operating budget has shrunk, Seeward said.

The proposed 2022-23 school budget (Article 4) will raise Northfield’s tax rate by $3.63 to $15.43 per $1,000 of assessed value, up from $11.80. That means annual taxes for a house in Northfield assessed at $100,000 will rise by $363, and taxes for a $250,000 home will go up by $907.50. Sanbornton’s tax rate will increase by $1.58 to $11.42 per $1,000, while Tilton’s rate will bump by $1.82 to $11.21.

The proposed school tax levels mimic what district residents paid in 2015-2016, administrators say. In 2015, Northfield homeowners paid $15.44 per $1000 of assessed valuation, which came to $1,544 for a home assessed at $100,000. Next year’s school tax rate in Northfield would become $15.43 under the new budget.

 School leaders say the increase may be hard to swallow at this moment, considering the times we’re in, but maintenance and repairs will have to be made regardless, and the bonding projects will be less expensive in the long run if they are undertaken now.

Economic uncertainty coupled with rising interest rates and escalating prices for everything create a mindset of caution and make taxpayers question whether an improvement or repair is necessary. But to secure state funding for expanding tech education in the WRSD district, which accepts students throughout the Lakes Region and from Merrimack Valley, the best opportunity is now, they say. It may be the only time in the near future to get significant help from the state.  

Long-term capital improvements

Warrant Article 1 seeks $8.7 million to cover design, construction, and equipping costs for renovations at district buildings, including new roofs at the middle and high schools, a sprinkler system for Sanbornton Central School (which has never had a fire suppression system), and replacing the metal siding at Winnisquam Regional Middle School, which is failing and causing problems. The district is hoping to finance these expenses with a 15-year bond, which is cheaper than paying for renovations or repairs piecemeal with money raised from taxpayers each year, Seeward said. 

“When we repair something in a crisis mode, it always costs more,” said Stock, the school board chair. Seven to nine years ago the district started to look at facilities, enrollment trends and capital costs to develop this long-term plan related to facilities upkeep. “We are starting to see some leaks. School roofs have reached or exceeded their life expectancy. We can continue to bale and twine or duct tape these things or do a full replacement” with new roofs designed to last 30 years, he said. When capital improvements are financed through municipal bonds, he said, lower interest rates are locked in, substantial money is saved over raising funds each year, and the taxpayer impact is contained, predictable, and spread over time.

By the time the district secures the bond, the project goes out to bid, and contractors are selected and booked, the earliest that any roof construction can start will likely be the summer of 2023 or 2024, Seeward said. “Our hope is by getting the ball rolling now, we’ll be ahead of the curve before they start to leak” into classrooms or hallways. Water is currently filtering into the underlying insulation, Seeward said, and it’s only a matter of time before it drips through.

Seward said the goal is to tackle middle school upgrades simultaneously. The metal siding there “is a 1972 classic. Now bees, birds and squirrels are finding their way in.” The insulation is not longer effective, heating costs are rising and humidity has become a problem. “We need to get this middle school upgraded,” Seeward said.

Other capital improvements include boosting school security by creating locked vestibules where visitors can be vetted by the front offices before they enter school buildings. Seeward said there have been incidents involving strangers getting in without anyone’s knowledge or permission, resulting in legitimate concerns. 

 “This is our first opportunity to get money for this in a bond,” Seeward said. It’s a lot less expensive to get one now for $8 million at roughly 3% than to try to raise money each year when things cost more, he said. “These items still have to get repaired. Historically this is how the district has funded its projects. It’s not an unusual process for this district.” Voters will be asked to pay an additional $217,500 for the first year’s payment on the bond.

To minimize disruption to school facilities, and from a financial standpoint this makes the most sense, said Stock. “Let’s bite the bullet and get it done and done right, and not keep chasing leaks and doing patchwork for the next 15 years.” Stock said it represents a $6 million savings at the end of 15 years.

Funding programs in cosmetology and precision manufacturing

State subsidies to upgrade WRSD’s agricultural-vocational education center and add programs in precision manufacturing and cosmetology, which are not available at the Huot Technical Education Center in Laconia, are available now, during this funding cycle, according to Seeward, Gardner and Stock. Other projects elsewhere are in line for state Department of Education funding in future years. If voters approve Article 2, the $9.255 million bonding project for career and technical education at the Winnisquam CTE Center, roughly 50 to 75% of the total can be paid by NH-DOE funds reserved for career and tech education, they say. “If we don’t do it this year, we really lose that window of support,” Seeward said. The district expects to receive 70%, leaving 30% to WRSD taxpayers, he added. Without this bond, taxpayers will end up footing the bill for $1.4 million in current repairs and get “only a repaired building, nothing new, and not up to current standards,” Seeward said. Voters will be asked to contribute another $231,575 to cover first year interest payments. The two programs have been identified as having high student interest, and being important to the local economy, according to Gardner.

Teacher contracts

A collective bargaining agreement reached between the Winnisquam Regional School District and the Winnisquam Regional Teachers Association calls for increasing salaries and benefits to bring compensation in line with area districts. Stock said this would put Winnisquam somewhere in the middle, as opposed to at the bottom for teacher pay. Article 5 calls for raising $552,359 to cover additional costs for next year, with estimated increases of roughly $224,000 in the following two years.

This would bring starting pay for a first year teacher to $44,000, up from $40,000. For decades, WRSD has lost teachers to other districts, who cut their teeth here then move for better pay, often to Bow, Gilford or at Inter-Lakes, Stock said. This three-year contract looked at what surrounding schools offer, eliminating the considerable gap, he said. The contract also gives administrators flexibility to move teachers where they’re needed and be less bound by their longevity of service.

School advocates and administrators say it’s particularly important to offer competitive wages now, post-pandemic, when there is a teacher shortage in New Hampshire and nationwide. These changes are necessary, they say, to attract and retain good educators — not just train them so they can leave.