Auburn School Board members ratified the tuition agreement in a unanimous vote for the proposed Candia-Auburn middle school on Tuesday, Nov. 13. Candia School Board members voted 4–1 in favor of ratifying the agreement at a recent meeting.

Tax impact numbers recently produced for both towns show year two of the 20-year agreement being the most expensive for taxpayers.

Candia residents owning homes assessed at $300,000 would see a $240 increase in their property taxes in year one, then it jumps to $639 in year two. Auburn residents owning homes of the same value would pay $213 in year one and $573 in year two. After year two, the tax impact declines by about 7 cents per $1,000 of assessed value each year.

Auburn pays less per household, said Auburn School Board Chairman Kathleen Porter, because of its larger tax base.

The two boards have been working on plans with Team Design, Inc., a Manchesterbased architectural firm that has extensive experience building schools.

Engineer Dan Bisson has made several presentations to residents in both towns. The proposed 102,000-square-foot regional school would include a high school-sized gymnasium, outdoor classroom, energy saving efficiencies, and more comprehensive programming than what is currently offered at the Moore and Village schools.

Bisson said Team Design has worked with other towns on plans for regional schools, citing the example of Pittsfield and Barnstead, which have not succeeded due to conflicts over control.

Both Candia and Auburn have conducted facilities studies in the past to determine the needs for the Village and Moore schools, which Candia and Auburn school board members said pointed to the need for more class space and better educational programs.

A committee charged with researching and analyzing the programming and space needs in the Village School went before the school board members in March 2003 with 13 pages of recommendations, said Auburn School Board member Elaine Hobbs.

Hobbs said the town would not qualify for state aid to expand the Village School at its current location because there is no room for such an undertaking.

“We do not meet the land requirements for a school that size,” she said. The Village School sits in 15 acres of land and is surrounded by wetlands, a cemetery and forest.

In March 2005, Moore School Facilities Committee members presented a facility analysis at the school district meeting which called for upgrades to the building’s infrastructure as well as expanding the gymnasium, building a new media center and adding science labs.

The New Hampshire School Administrators Association assessed both schools, Candia in 2002 and Auburn in 2003.

Some of the recommendations for the schools were to adopt year-round school calendars, which would require expansion; to add portable classrooms, which the Village School has done; and to provide new facilities for grades 6 to 8.

The first portable was added to the Village School grounds in 1995, the second in 2002 and the third in 2004, for a total of six classrooms. According to the New Hampshire School Administrators Association, portables are a short-term solution in dealing with enrollment increases and loss of space.

“It is generally not seen as a wise investment of public resources to solve a long-term problem,” the study states.

SAU 15 Superintendant Phil Littlefield said both towns would benefit from a regional middle school in the long run.

“You have two districts whose middle school program is not well supported by the facility, so it becomes very efficient to join the two,” said Littlefield.

“By combining the two student populations, we’re much more efficient in delivering teaching and learning.”

Operating costs from the two current schools would increase anyway in the future, he said.

Littlefield said inflation over the next few years will increase operating costs at both schools, and that the potential operating costs of the proposed joint school, projected at $3.6 million per year, would not differ much from the operating costs both towns will see individually.

“I think we’ve seen a recognition in both communities that school facilities need to be addressed,” Littlefield said.