By Russ Choma
Staff Writer

Fearing the most recent incarnation of the state education funding proposal will become law, several local school boards - including Hooksett, Auburn and Candia - have set aside thousands of dollars in anticipation of a legal fight against the formula.

School boards in the three towns have already earmarked $14,400 - $8,000 from Hooksett, $4,000 from Auburn and $2,400 from Candia - in case House Bill 616 passes. All three towns would be major "losers" under the bill's proposed education aid distribution formula, and school officials say they're prepared to fight the new plan in court.

In addition to the strong possibility their districts could lose significant amounts of state money, one major point of concern for many local officials is the fact that the cuts would happen this July - well after their annual budgets were approved by voters this past March. In New Hampshire, a school district may not reopen its budget or change its spending levels after voters set the budget unless a special district meeting is called. Under HB 616, as it was passed by the state House of Representatives last month, all three districts would receive significantly less money than the figures included in their budgets. Hooksett would receive $706,893 less state education aid; Auburn would lose $491,131; and Candia would get $266,725.

At a meeting Tuesday, May 10, representatives - including state representatives, school - from 11 southern New Hampshire towns met in Londonderry to discuss HB 616. At that meeting, Hooksett school board member Ron Dion said he was "aghast" when he first heard of the bill.

Speaking at the meeting, Dion said he was concerned how the reduced revenue from the state would affect his district. HB 616's proposed formula targets aid to districts based on their median income levels, total property value and several categories of need - for example, the number of students receiving free or reduced lunches, or the number of students with failing test scores.

This isn't fair to Hooksett students, Dion said.

"In my mind, what I want to see is the state take responsibility for education for every child in the state," he said. "They're just giving us a pittance. It should be the same portion (of aid) per child no matter where the child lives in the state."

Dion said HB 616 is punishing Hooksett for working hard to boost the town's assessed property value and the district's test scores.

"In Hooksett, we've worked very hard to try and develop our community, we've invested a lot of money (in new developments) so that we could bring up our revenue," Dion said, adding that a consequence of all the new development is heavy traffic and a jumbled Route 3 commercial district.

"We put up with all that aggravation to try and balance our tax bill, and what do we get for a reward for that?" Dion asked. "The state says, 'Gee you're doing such a good job, we're going to give you less, and we've noticed you've done a good job educating your youngsters, so we're going to give you even less."

"It doesn't make sense," Dion said.

SAU 15 Superintendent Armand LeSelva, who oversees Hooksett, Candia and Auburn, said the "timing couldn't be worse" for any changes to state aid levels, because the budgets have already been set.

"They're doing this, and here we are almost in June, all budgets have been passed and appropriated and any negative impact means higher tax rates," LeSelva said.

He also questioned the constitutionality of the proposed distribution formula.

"We're not waiting and seeing, we're playing the game, if it's a game, that we're ready to join a coalition of other communities that would be negatively impacted," LeSelva said. He was referring to several of the other southern New Hampshire districts represented at the Londonderry meeting, who have said they will file an injunction against HB 616, should it be approved by the state Senate later this month.