Auburn News : school district

No changes to Auburn school district warrant

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:05:00 GMT

BY TOBY HENRY

Auburn school officials and an audience of about 30 residents breezed through the slim school district warrant on Feb. 2 during the deliberative session of School District Meeting that generated no amendments and only a few questions.

“It’s pretty cut and dry, and (the proposed budget) is less than the default budget, too,” said local resident Don Dollard.

As the meeting began, moderator Jim Andrus told residents that this is the first meeting under the new SB-2 format, which was approved last year. Of the four items on the warrant, the proposed budget of $10,744,514 generated the most questions, and School Board member Kathi Porter said administrators and Budget Committee members alike strove to create a 2009-10 budget that would be “as conservative as possible.”

Overall, Porter said the budget has less than a 1 percent increase over the current budget, but local resident Dan Carpenter later pointed out that the amount of revenue taken in by the district had decreased sharply. The district took in an estimated $1,367,508 in revenue during the current budget year, while next year’s estimate drops by about $600,000 to $779,975.

Local resident Kathy Butts asked if there were any unforeseen changes due to the school’s addition of a new kindergarten, which began in September. Porter said that as of now, officials are expecting to add another half-day session of kindergarten in the coming year because of increased enrollment, but other than this, most of the predictions were on the mark.

Later, School Board member Robert Hayes explained a $50,000 request in a warrant article as an attempt to boost a “safety net” in the event that the district takes in a special education student requiring expensive programming needs. He said this consideration came about after Candia received a special education student who required some $150,000 worth of programming needs, and he said this type of unexpected expense can have “a devastating effect” on a budget.

Hayes said the $50,000 will be added to another $50,000 that was already allocated in 2003. The money will be drawn from the unexpended fund balance and will not increase the tax rate, he said.

The final article discussed was a plan to use about half of some $62,000 approved last year for an upcoming master plan study for the school district. School Board Chairman Elaine Hobbs said the $62,000 was approved last year in order for the district to look at its options after the failure of a proposal for two-town school near Route 101’s Exit 2.

But because of the economic downturn in 2008, Hobbs said the board opted not to look at any major plans, and instead chose to pursue the idea of a more generalized master plan.

She said the board will eventually look at enrollment figures and other data to look at what the future needs will be, and the final plan will focus on “a district- wide plan to give us some choices.”

The remained of the money allocated last year will go back to the town, she said.

The first year under SB-2 rules

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:30:00 GMT

BY GINGER KOZLOWSKI

Last spring, voters chose to leave the traditional form of Town Meeting and School District Meeting behind, deciding to adopt the official ballot law, commonly referred to as SB-2, for both town and school governance.

The deliberative session of School District Meeting takes place Monday, Feb. 2, 7 p.m., at Auburn Village School, a change from its traditional Friday night. The deliberative session of Town Meeting takes place Saturday, Feb. 7, at 1 p.m., at Auburn Village School.

Both are a month earlier than people are used to. Under the official ballot law, the deliberative session must take place earlier so people can take the information under consideration in preparation for the vote in March, this year on March 10.

Town warrants
On the town warrant, there are three zoning warrants, which will not be discussed or changed at the deliberative session.

There are also five warrant articles. Participants in the deliberative session may change the wording and dollar amounts presented, but not the intent of the article.

Article 5 asks for $187,860 for road and drainage system improvements at the intersection of Wilson Crossing Road and Hunting Road. Of that, $140,895 is expected to come from grants or state aid, so only $46,965 is to come from taxation.

Article 6, asks for $100,000 to continue wastewater planning efforts for a connection between the Dartmouth Drive/Wellington Business Park and the city of Manchester’s system on By-pass 28. This should not affect the tax rate, as $40,000 will come from grants and $60,000 from surplus.

Article 7 asks for $7,000 to purchase a second Accuvote machine.

Article 8 asks for $175,000 to be placed into the Town Buildings Rehabilitation Capital Reserve Fund. This will not affect the tax rate, as this money is to come from surplus.

Article 9 asks for $4,339,440 for the town’s operating budget. Under the official ballot law, this figure can be amended at the deliberative session, but once the figure is approved, that is what the town will vote for or against in March. If voters say no to the proposed operating budget, the town will automatically be put on a default budget, which is the same as last year with certain adjustments for items like previously-agreed upon contract increases. The default budget would be $23,307 lower, at $4,316,133.

School warrants
There are three warrant articles to be discussed by voters at the deliberative session of School District Meeting.

Voters will be asked to raise $10,744,514.74 as an operating budget for Auburn Village School. Should that article be defeated, the default budget would be set at $10,876,762, higher than the proposed budget by $132,247.26.

The other two articles ask for $50,000 to be taken from surplus and put into the Special Education Expendable Trust Fund and $31,000 to be taken from surplus and put in the School Construction Expendable Trust Fund. Neither would affect the tax rate.

Auburn says ‘yes’ to public kindergarten

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:33:00 GMT

BY TOBY HENRY

Residents approved the town’s first public kindergarten and town budget of $4,218,251 during the final annual Town and School District meetings March 14 and 15.

The voters’ decision to approve the SB2 official ballot voting system on March 11 means the traditional meetings held on Friday and Saturday were the last Auburn will have. Discussions on a failed two-town middle school was the focus as the school meeting began Friday night.

School Board member Kathi Porter said she’d wished she would have been kicking off the talks for Auburn’s vote on the project, but the new school effort ultimately evolved into a $62,000 budget increase.

Candia’s rejection of a 20- year contract had killed the project three days earlier before Auburn’s voters could take up their own vote on the two-town school. Porter said the additional $62,000 would be used to “research solutions for space and programming needs” for local students, and an overall budget of $10,133,854 was approved.

Residents also approved a kindergarten with a total construction cost of $382,833, with some $287,125 in state aid expected. State sources will also provide $95,040 toward the $111,060 needed to staff and supply the kindergarten next year.

Although some residents said they were concerned about financial difficulties for the many private kindergartens which have been teaching Auburn’s children, many residents said they felt establishing a kindergarten program was unavoidable.

“The fact of the matter is if the state tells us we have to do this, it’s like my 10-year-old arguing with me about going to bed,” said Chris Trickett. “Sooner or later she has to go to bed. They (the state) is telling us we have to do it.”

According to school officials’ plans, more than 50 students will attend the kindergarten when it opens next year, and a technical education classroom will be converted into two 1,000-square-foot classrooms. The kindergarten passed by a vote of 298-94, easily meeting the required simple majority vote.

Later, during the Town Meeting on Saturday, residents OK’d an additional $150,000 for extra winter road maintenance as well as $3,400 to cover increased costs for groundskeeping equipment. The final budget totaled $4,218,251 without warrant articles.

Voters also shot down an article to have the governor reject the longstanding pledge against having a state tax, and more than $300,000 in various town road projects were approved. Voters also supported a $75,000 request for wastewater planning.