With Hebron vote, 3 towns leaving Newfound district

HEBRON — With a 218-21 vote at the Hebron Town Meeting on May 16, three of the seven towns that comprise the Newfound Area School District will be withdrawing from School Administrative Unit 4 and forming their own “special-purpose” school district starting July 2025.

The other two towns, Bridgewater and Groton, already agreed to withdraw at their respective town meetings in March, but, under the provisions of House Bill 349 that enables towns to create their own school district, all three towns would have to agree to leave SAU 4, or they would remain with Newfound.

The vote does not mean a total severing of ties with Newfound, however. As Patrick Moriarty, vice chair of the Hebron Selectboard noted, the steering committee planning for the change intends to continue accepting elementary school students from the other Newfound towns, and they want to allow their students to continue attending Newfound middle and high schools through tuition agreements.

That may not happen if the Newfound Area School Board does not agree to the mutual tuition plan. The previous year’s board opposed the withdrawal effort and threatened punitive measures if they did. The two most vocal opponents no longer serve on the board.

The school board has agreed to a framework to allow students currently enrolled to complete their educations at the schools of their choice, but indicated the arrangement would end when the last student graduated. The board rejected the steering committee’s request to provide administrative services through the SAU 4 office, even though the three towns said they would be willing to cover any additional costs incurred in doing so.

The withdrawal movement grew out of years of complaints about the quality of education in the middle school, but gained momentum when Alexandria residents initiated an effort to change the apportionment formula for the towns.

When the school district formed in 1962, the seven towns agreed to share educational costs based on the average daily attendance from each town and the cost of its students' transportation. Some members of a study committee created to review the formula wanted to include equalized valuation in the equation, which would shift the tax burden to Bridgewater and Hebron and, to a lesser extent, to Groton.

Ultimately, the committee was unable to agree on a new formula but left open the possibility of doing so in the future.

In asking Hebron voters to approve the withdrawal plan, Moriarty focused on the taxation.

“We are outnumbered and outvoted in our cooperative school district by thousands of votes,” Moriarty said, “so we have no control over our own taxes for schools, even our own buildings ... setting up our own district, we would have that control. We would have our own school board and have our own budget and have control over the situation.”

He went on to characterize the other towns as being “not fiscally responsible” and said, “They get themselves in trouble, they have high taxes, and they don’t know what to do about it.” Their answer, he said, is to try to shift the burden onto the smaller towns.

Several years ago, Bridgewater and Hebron formed a village district to build the Bridgewater-Hebron Village School, which they maintain and lease to the Newfound Area School District for $1 a year. The school district provides the staff and curriculum to operate the school.

That special arrangement allowed them to seek legislation to create a special-purpose school district, circumventing the normal requirements for separation from a cooperative school district.

Moriarty pointed out both Democrats and Republicans in the state legislature saw merit in their effort.

“Democrats and Republicans [on the House Education Committee] voted, 18-2, in favor" of HB 349, he said. “These are people who are addressing education issues on a daily basis. We went to the Senate, which was nine people — five Republicans and four Democrats — and they voted in favor, 9-0.”

The Department of Education and “several superintendents” in the area have supported the effort, Moriarty said, adding that Plymouth’s superintendent has offered to allow students to attend Plymouth schools. Many Groton students are closer to Plymouth than other Newfound schools.

“Everything here is positive, and, again, we hope to work with the [Newfound] district. I think we can have a great school,” Moriarty said.

The communities have been discussing the proposal since the legislation passed, so there was no further discussion before the moderator declared the polls open for a ballot vote. Upon announcing the results, the crowd burst into applause and shouts of victory.

Other business

Voters passed a $1.58. million operating budget for the coming year which the selectboard said was 1% less than the current budget.

Article 12, which asked for $201,500 for the town’s capital reserve funds, was amended to add $50,000 to the fire department’s fund, representing money received from the sale of its old ambulance.

Most other articles also passed, but voters rejected one to allow the selectboard to acquire or sell land and buildings without holding a public meeting to ask for voter approval. The article would have required only that they consult with the planning board and conservation commission before acting.

Article 8, asking for $67,150 to grade and repave a section of Hobart Hill Road and repave the parking area at the town office building was amended to remove the parking lot improvements, which would have added six parking spaces.

There was no opposition to the repaving of a section of Cooper Road for $58,400, and even less to highway work on Hemlock Lane where a private donation will cover $20,000 of the $32,700 cost.

Voters also easily agreed to take $100,000 from the Highway Department Capital Reserve Fund and to use $50,505 from the unexpended fund balance to purchase a new dump truck.