SB-2 article on school warrant

Goffstown Editor — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 19:50:00 GMT

BY SARAH LEBRUN

When Bow residents attend School District Meeting on March 13, they can expect to see a petitioned article for official ballot law, or SB-2, on the school district warrant.

According to Superintendent of Schools Dean Cascadden, this article will on the ballot in May and will not be voted on at the School District Meeting. There will also be a public hearing on this article prior to the May vote.

“I've worked in SB-2 districts previously, and I’m not taking a stand on it one way or the other,” said Cascadden.

“There are pluses and minuses to either one.” On the warrant is also a proposed operating budget of $24,408,702, down $800,858 from this year’s budget of $25,209,560.

Both figures include the yearly food services budget.

The tax impact would be a reduction of 48 cents per $1,000 assessed property value, or $96 on a $200,000 home.

According to Cascadden, the decrease in the budget is due to six staff cuts – two at the middle school and four at the high school. There are also a couple of unfilled support staff positions that were cut from the budget.

Cascadden said administrators were directed to come up with a zero or less-than-zero increase in the school budget this year. “We realize it’s time to reduce and come in as frugal as we can,” said Cascadden.

Residents will also have to vote on a one-year teachers’ contract for the 2009-10 school year.

Requested is $356,310 for raises for 153 teachers, guidance counselors, nurses, library staff and speech teachers.

The tax impact would be 29 cents per $1,000 assessed property value, or $58 on a $200,000 home. If this article is rejected, Article 5 requests one special meeting to address the teachers’ contract.

Also on the school district warrant are various articles asking for withdrawals from the Bow School District Capital Reserve Fund. The Bow School District Meeting takes place Friday, March 13, at 7 p.m., at Bow High School.

Too late for SB2 in Bow

Bow Editor — Wed, 14 May 2008 21:33:00 GMT

BY MATT SCHOOLEY

A petition by a group of Bow residents to move to the official ballot law, often called SB2, on the ballot for Election Day was submitted too late, leaving the issue on hold for another year.

The group submitted the petition April 4, believing it was in on time to make it onto the ballot. However, since it missed the notice deadline to be posted for the School District Meeting, it was rejected by the School Board.

Looking for a second opinion, the group took the matter to Merrimack County Superior Court, which supported the School Board’s decision.

“We researched the state laws and the state laws are not very specific, at best they’re very vague,” said Rick Hiland, one of the organizers of the petition that, if approved, would change Bow’s voting process to official ballot law, where voting on all articles takes place on election day, not at Town Meeting. “The judge said we had a good reason to be there, because it’s not clear. But he was not in the position to legislate.”

School Board Chairman Pansy Bloomfield said the Superior Court decision was the correct one.

“The petition was not in time,” she said. “The judge stressed that it wasn’t just the issue of the timing, but that it couldn’t be posted to warn voters of the issue.”

Hiland, who was one of 37 signatures on the petition, said he supports SB2 because it is in the best financial interest of the town.

“We’ve always felt our school district financially has been out of control,” he said. “We figured that more people able to vote on the budget each year would be better to the community.”

Hiland said he already has 100 signatures on his petition for next year’s ballot, and also said it will be filed by the correct date next time.

Bloomfield said she does not believe the support for SB2 is any higher than previous years. She said it has been on the ballot and failed several other years.

“I don’t know that support is growing. Every few years there is a group that becomes more vocal about it,” said Bloomfield. “When times are tough, it resurges. It’s something people are interested in when they are feeling the pressure of taxes going up.”

In addition, Bloomfield said the School Board also considered placing the issue on the ballot, “as a move of goodwill.”

Although the Superior Court and School Board rulings did not go the way Hiland had hoped, he still believes he and other SB2 supporters were successful.

“If the economy keeps tumbling and the School Board keeps doing what they’re doing, it’ll make for an easy decision, in my opinion,” said Hiland. “I think we sent a message to the School Board, and I think that’s the idea.”

Bow News : sb2

SB-2 article on school warrant

Too late for SB2 in Bow