BY NICHOLAS BROWN
A Hooksett school committee plan to ask voters to withdraw from SAU 15 was rejected by the state Board of Education, which said the Hooksett committee didn’t fully consider the impact the withdrawal would have on the smaller school districts of Auburn and Candia, according to the state board’s chairman.
The Hooksett committee was tasked with analyzing the financial and educational impact Hooksett’s withdrawal would have on all three towns.
“Our thought was the Hooksett withdrawal committee had not done any real analysis that we could hang our hats on,” said state Board of Education Chairman David Ruedig.
The SAU is the central administrative unit – including nine staff members such as a superintendent, an assistant superintendent and a business administrator – for the school districts in the three towns. The rejected request likely means the withdrawal question will be removed from this year’s School District Meeting ballot, said Ruedig.
“My understanding was this board meeting was the last chance they had before deadline,” Ruedig said.
He said the Hooksett School Board can submit a more indepth withdrawal proposal later.
“I’d assume we’re going to see them back at some point based on the discussions we had,” Ruedig said.
Neither the Hooksett School Board chairman, Joanne McHugh, nor the SAU 15 withdrawal study committee chairman, Dana Argo, were available to respond to the board’s decision, which came on Tuesday, Jan. 9, by press time. Last year, Maura Ouellette authored a petition asking for a committee to study the potential ramifications of withdrawing from the SAU.
Ouellette, now a school board member, was part of the study committee that issued a 23-page report in November addressing potential impacts of Hooksett’s withdrawal. That report repeatedly said the SAU 15 staff is stressed in trying to meet the needs of the three towns, and said that stress will only increase as Hooksett grows.
The group estimated that a Hooksett-only SAU would cost about $74,000 more annually than will Hooksett’s contribution – at 58 percent – to the SAU’s operating budget next year, which is anticipated to top $750,000.
That percentage, determined by student enrollment, also gives the Hooksett school board members proportionally weighted votes as SAU wide board meetings. School board members in Auburn and Candia have said Hooksett’s absence from the SAU could mean taxpayers in the two smaller towns would have to pay more annually in administrative fees, and have warned that those added costs would be detrimental to student education.
The state board’s decision came a day after one Hooksett School Board member accused the board of “playing games” with Hooksett voters as the board pondered how to present a warrant article asking for the SAU withdrawal. Board member James Sullivan pushed the board to take vote on whether to recommend the SAU withdrawal at this year’s annual meeting, which kicks off with a deliberative session on Friday, Feb. 9.
Sullivan’s request came after the board took similar votes on all seven other warrant articles being prepared for this year’s annual meeting. Those recommendations typically follow a budget committee recommendation on the list of warrant articles, and on the ballot on voting day.
“By its very important nature, it demands our ‘yes’ or ‘no’ vote,” Sullivan said of the withdrawal question.
Sullivan cited three separate occasions on which the board has taken votes related to the SAU withdrawal, and said remaining silent now is “inappropriate.”
Other school board members, including McHugh, said the board should remain silent because those previous votes on the SAU withdrawal have been split 3-2, either in favor or against.
The Hooksett Budget Committee is having a hearing on the school district budget, which is currently proposed at over $23 million, and a series of warrant articles on Thursday, Jan. 11, at 7 p.m. at Memorial School.