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With a decline in student population, the budget should be lower.

Here are some budget numbers to consider:

• 2017-2018 current School Dept. budget: $10,184,208 plus $102,436 for unwarranted raises = $10, 286,644
• 2018-2019 School Board proposed budget: $$10,077,085
• 2018-2019 default school budget: $9,981,555

Components of the proposed budget include the following:

• Tuition cost for an estimated 144 Pembroke Academy students = 144 x $13,462/student = $1,992,376.
• Budget for 114 Special Ed. students = $2,826,567
• Approximate budget for 374 students at AES and ARD = $8,041,534
  This works out to about $18,216.28/student according to the NH Dept. of Education.
• Average cost for NH private elementary schools = $8,921.

For further reading, see the Concord Monitor articles listed to the right.

VOTER'S GUIDE

The school budget did not pass.

Article 1 – School Budget

Shall the Allenstown School District vote to raise and appropriate as an operating budget, not including appropriations by special warrant article and other appropriations voted separately, the amounts set forth on the budget posted with the warrant or as amended by vote of the first session, for the purposes set forth therein, totaling $10,077,085? Should this article be defeated, the operating budget shall be $9,981,355 which is the same as last year, with certain adjustments required by previous action of the Allenstown School District, or by law, or the governing body may hold one special meeting in accordance with RSA 40:13, X and XVI, to take up the issue of a revised operating budget only.

Commentary: Many taxpayers are living on fixed incomes (retired or disabled) or on low incomes. Even though the economy has been improving over the last several months, that's no reason to expect people to continue to fund a poorly performing school system.

If you don't agree with that assessment, check out the links to School Digger and Great Schools to the right.

Also, why do you continue to fund two principals and their staff and two aging school buildings for only 374 or so students? Has the entrenched bureaucracy been entrenched for too long?

Recommendation: By voting No, you are voting against the proposed 2018-19 school budget of $10,077,085 and in favor of the lower default school budget of $9,981,555.

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Article 2 – School Maintenance Trust Fund

(THIS ARTICLE DOES NOT IMPACT THE TAX RATE) To see if the District will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of up to $20,000 to be added to the School Building Maintenance Expendable Trust Fund previously established, with no amount to be raised from taxation, with such amount to be funded from the June 30, 2018 fund balance available for transfer on July 1, 2018, and further to name the school board as agents to expend from this fund. No amount will be raised from taxation. (NO AMOUNT WILL BE RAISED FROM TAXATION)

Commentary: As with all trust fund articles, the money comes from your tax money that was not spent. But since the school buildings will need some sort of ongoing maintenance, this fund is intended to cover more expensive repairs or improvements.

Recommendation: Yes

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Article 3 – Special Education Trust Fund

(THIS ARTICLE DOES NOT IMPACT THE TAX RATE) To see if the District will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of up to $20,000 to be added to the Special Education Expendable Trust Fund previously established, with no amount to be raised from taxation, with such amount to be funded from the June 30, 2018 fund balance available for transfer on July 1, 2018, and further to name the school board as agents to expend from this fund. No amount will be raised from taxation. (NO AMOUNT WILL BE RAISED FROM TAXATION)

Commentary: The money comes from your tax money that was not spent. In this case, the fund is intended for Special Ed. costs called "out-of-district placement." This means that, if the local school system cannot handle a student's disability within regular education classes, the school must pay sometimes outrageously high costs for transportation and tuition for a "special education school."

You can thank the U.S. Congress and President George H.W. Bush for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (1990) which mandated all sorts of authoritarian requirements on local schools but never adequately funded them.

Recommendation: Yes, reluctantly.
Better to have a fund on which to draw than to have to inflate the school budget with unpredictable tax spikes for Special Ed.

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Concord Monitor Feb. 3 article on Deliberative Session

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