By Devon Cormier
Staff Writer

How to use a million dollars and whether to change when the School District Meeting and voting takes place are among the six warrant articles Hooksett residents will consider at the annual deliberative session of School District Meeting on Friday, Feb. 11.

Leftover money
Warrant Article 2 asks voters to allow the school district to use $975,000 in bond money left over from the building project with Cawley and Memorial schools for improvements and renovations to the Underhill school as well as to School Administrative Unit 15’s office. School Board Chairman Jim Sullivan said the money would go toward things like heating and ventilation, as well as asbestos removal. A complete list will be available before the vote, Sullivan said.

SAU 15 business administrator Sally Waterhouse emphasized that this money is not being raised through taxes, but is money currently available for building renovations. Approval will not affect Hooksett’s tax rate.

Special ed, repairs
The third and fourth warrant articles are on the ballot every year. Warrant Article 3 asks voters to use $25,000 currently in surplus to be put in the Special Education Expendable Trust Fund. Occasionally the school district has to pay to send children with special needs out of the district. These costs are often unplanned, so it is important to save money ahead of time, Sullivan said.

Warrant Article 4 asks for $10,000 in unanticipated building repair costs.

Both warrant articles are recommended by both the school board and budget committee.

$22 million budget
Warrant Article 5 asks voters to approve an operating budget of $21,744,339. If this is defeated, the budget will be adjusted to a default of $21,180,599, which is the same as last year with certain adjustments previously approved. The budget committee asked the school board to reduce its proposed budget, and the school board is now in agreement with the budget committee.

Last year’s default budget was $20,357,954, so the proposed budget is an increase of about $1.4 million, or 6.8 percent.

Move the elections?
The last two articles are petitions that were initiated by budget committee member Brian Williams.

Warrant Article 6 asks that the date for school district elections be moved from the second Tuesday in March to the second Tuesday in April, and the deliberative session of the School District Meeting to March.

Williams said the change in dates would allow voters and the budget committee to see the whole impact of the town and school costs. The town election is in May and the deliberative session of Town Meeting is in April.

“Right now the way the dates are structured, the budget committee and the voters don’t see anything from the town budget process until we are done with the school,” said Williams. “We are never making a decision on everything.”

Sullivan said the school board members weren’t sure why the petition was circulated, but they had assumed there will be a petition asking the town elections to be moved from May to April so both elections would be at the same time. The school board voted 3-2 against recommending approval of the warrant article.

Sullivan said the school board would certainly be open to moving the school elections to coincide with the town elections, but moving the School District Meeting from March to April doesn’t seem to do that.

Who determines default?
The last warrant article may be the most controversial. Warrant Article 7 asks voters to let the budget committee determine the default budget instead of the School Administrative Unit. State law governs what can and can’t be put in the budget, which the SAU follows, said Sullivan.

“We vote on what should be in the default budget before we adopt it,” said Sullivan. “Then, before we adopt it, it is reviewed by the Department of Revenue Administration. If the budget committee was going to do it, it would be more of a political debate. If our interpretations are different, we should just clarify them.”

However, Williams said there has been a discrepancy in the interpretation of what can and can’t be put in a default budget. Also, Williams said, there is no line of recourse to take if a resident doesn’t agree with the school board’s decision.

“Your recourse if you don’t like what’s in the budget is to replace the school board,” said Williams. “Your recourse if the budget committee does it is to go to hearings. The process just gives voters another opportunity to look at the default budget.”

Sullivan said the SAU is not in favor of giving the budget committee the responsibilities of the SAU in part because the SAU has developed an expertise, and in part because it wouldn’t solve interpretation problems with the law. Sullivan suggested going through and clarifying the state statutes between the school board and the budget committee.

The School District Meeting will take place at Cawley Middle School at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 11.