Chelsea
“It’s a big vote on May 14,” said School Board Chairwoman Kathy Galluzzo, of Tunbridge. “We want to make sure people come and ask questions.”
Beginning early last month, school officials worked under a compressed timeline to get the budget for the K-8 merged district in place in time for the floor meeting, which is scheduled to take place at 7 p.m. in the Chelsea School gym.
Galluzzo said the new budget reflects an effort to maintain the existing classroom offerings for students at both schools, while building on collaborative partnerships between the two districts.
“We wanted to make sure that we improve what we can offer,” Galluzzo said. “We want to do more.”
How many of the roughly eight teaching staff at the closed Chelsea high school will remain in the new structure is still being worked out, Galluzzo said, because many of them teach both high school and middle school courses, and it’s not yet clear how many are seeking to stay on next year. In addition, an administrative assistant position was eliminated, and a few other positions — including a nurse, a physical education teacher, and a music teacher — that spanned both Chelsea schools had their hours reduced.
Though it’s difficult to make comparisons between the former two-district structure and the new merged district, which was approved by the voters of Chelsea and Tunbridge in November, overall spending is up, and taxes are expected to increase in both towns.
Last year, voters approved a $3.1 million budget for the Tunbridge School District, and a $3.4 million budget for the Chelsea School District, for a combined total of $6.5 million.
“Even though it appears there’s an increase in the budget,” Galluzzo said, “I would like people to remember that it would have been more” if the districts had lost out on their state-funded merger incentives and small schools grants, as would have likely been the case under the 2015 education law Act 46, had the districts chosen not to merge.
This week, school officials learned from the state Agency of Education that the district’s small schools grant funding would remain intact, White River Valley Supervisory Union Superintendent Bruce Labs said.
Staff drafted the budget assuming that the closing of the high school would cause it to lose roughly $100,000 of the $232,000 grant, which means that the tax rate increases will be slightly less than had been projected.
Labs said the change, as well as any other developments between now and May 14, likely will be reflected in motions made from the floor during the school meeting.
“It’s certainly more than we were anticipating and that helps with the revenue side,” Labs said. “Being able to have some good news while opening the meeting is a wonderful thing.”
Galluzzo said that, though the district saved money by closing Chelsea High School, much of the savings went to support Chelsea students in grades nine through 12, who now will be tuitioned out under school choice. Tunbridge students already had school choice in high school.
“We’ve still got to pay to educate those kids,” she said. “We have to pay tuition when they go elsewhere.”
Last week, before it was understood that the small schools grant funding would be changed, staff projected the education tax rate in Chelsea would increase by 5.8 cents, to $1.71 per $100 of assessed property value. That would result in an increase of $145 on the tax bill of a home assessed at $250,000.
In Tunbridge, staff projected the education tax rate would increase by 10.8 cents, to $1.50 per $100, which would result in a $270 tax bill increase for a $250,000 home.
The two towns are affected differently by the state’s funding formula, which makes adjustments to the total assessed value of each town; Chelsea was helped by its common level of appraisal adjustment, while Tunbridge was hurt.
Under the draft budget, per-pupil spending is up by 2.17 percent in Chelsea and 4.22 percent in Tunbridge.
In addition to Galluzzo, the new district’s board members include Maryann Caron and Jena Young, of Tunbridge; and Emily Marshia, Deborah Ackerman and Sue Kay, all of Chelsea.
Elsewhere in the White River Supervisory Union, the first budget of the newly formed White River Unified School District, which was approved last month, also is about $500,000 more than the final budget of its constituent Bethel and Royalton districts.
Officials from the Rochester-Stockbridge Unified District will present its $4.25 million budget to voters at 7 p.m. on May 22, in the Rochester High School Auditorium.
And the $1.5 million Granville-Hancock Unified District is scheduled to come before voters at 6 p.m. on May 8 at the Hancock Town Hall.
School districts in Strafford and Sharon have submitted plans to the Agency of Education that would allow the two districts to maintain their current unmerged governance structures. Labs said the plans likely would be the subject of public hearings for much of the summer.
If the First Branch Unified District budget fails on May 14, the First Branch School Board will have just enough time to draft another budget and meet a mandated 30-day warning period before the district’s fiscal year begins on July 1. Once a budget is in place, Galluzzo said, the board plans to form a committee of members of the public to help decide on school colors and a mascot for the new entity.
Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at mhonghet@vnews.com or 603-727-3211.