CLAREMONT — A divided School Board has voted to recommend presenting two versions of the 2026-27 budget, each operating four schools, at a public hearing later this month.
The board also rejected a third proposal that would have reduced the number of school buildings in the district from four to three.
The board cast two 4-3 votes on Wednesday.
The first proposal has a $44.8 million bottom line and realigns the two elementary schools to be grade specific.
The second proposal is a $46.2 million budget to keep the current alignment of having students in grades K-5 at Disnard and Maple Avenue elementary schools. That alignment was put in place in the fall when Bluff Elementary School closed.
Board members Loren Howard, Frank Sprague, Candace Crawford and Arlene Hawkins supported the four school options, while board Chairwoman Heather Whitney, Vice Chairman Michael Petrin and William Madden voted no and instead favored the three-school option.
Hawkins echoed what many in the audience at Wednesday’s meeting said.
“We need to provide stability in what has been an unstable year,” she said.
A final decision on which budget will be presented at the Feb. 7 deliberative session will be made no later than Jan. 21.
Realigning the elementary schools starting next year would place grades preK-2 in one school and grades 3-5 the other. But if the current elementary school configuration, K-5 in both schools, were to continue next year, about eight positions would be added and that accounts for much of the cost difference between the four school budgets.
During the public comment period, most speakers pleaded with the board to leave the current configuration at the elementary level in place for at least another year.
“You are decimating the district right now. You need to stabilize the district. If not, you are going to lose teachers,” said Brian Rapp, a former School Board member. “Teachers can’t take it. Kids can’t take it. You really need to put on the brakes and have a more coherent discussion with the public.”
Several said closing Bluff Elementary in the fall and moving the students to the other two schools has caused disruption for both students and teachers, and they should be given another year to adjust.
“As a mom and a teacher, I am trying to keep my emotions in check,” said elementary school teacher Cassandra Edwards. “It feels like you are saying it is going to be OK. It is not going to be OK for these kids.”
Edwards wondered how the reconfiguration of the district could be done in six months.
“We are asking you for another year,” Edwards said. “We are asking for stability so we can plan.”
Alicia Simino, who has taught at the elementary level in Claremont for 16 years, said the board and district are not communicating with staff and that has led to a lot of unknowns.
“Teachers are going to be leaving because there are unknowns,” said Simino, who invited board members to her classroom to observe what is taking place. “We are not getting answers and the more unknowns there are, the more people will plan on leaving.”
Another resident, Jim Zullo, said the board needs to do more for taxpayers.
“How much more can we cut to make it a little easier for taxpayers,” Zullo said.
If the district were to realign the elementary schools to be grade specific the proposed budget would be $44.8 million, or 3.9% above the current $43.1 million budget, and would add $1.35 per $1,000 of assessed valuation to the school tax rate, Business Administrator Matt Angell said in his presentation.
The other four-school budget plan, which would leave both elementary schools at K-5, is $46.2 million, a 7% increase from this year, with a $2.46 tax increase from the current overall rate of $17.45.
Finally, the proposal to operate one elementary school for grades K-2, with the middle school for grades 3-6 and the high school grades 7-12 was reduced from $44 million and a 69 cents to the tax rate, to $43.4 million, a less than 1% increase from this year with no tax impact. That reduction was proposed by Whitney and supported by Madden and Petrin.
“We have to minimize the increase,” Madden said.
That proposal would increase guidance staff for grades 3-6 and the high school, and allow for the district’s three social workers to be assigned to one school each, Whitney said.
“It is the most concrete step we can take to put the district on the road to stability,” Whitney said.
Whitney acknowledged an initial transition to three schools, excluding the tech center, would be “messy,” but said the disruptions would be temporary. “Then things will calm down.”
She said the current four-school model is “unsustainable and unequitable” and the three-school budget will provide the same if not enhanced education for less money.
“It makes no sense to do otherwise,” Whitney said.
But Sprague, a former Stevens principal, said he could not see how it would work at Stevens for grades 7-12.
“I haven’t seen a place for that and it does not make me comfortable that we could pull that off,” Sprague said.
At the end of the meeting, Whitney said even though the board voted against presenting the three-school budget it would still have the board’s consideration after a Jan. 20 public hearing. The hearing will be held at Stevens High School beginning at 7 p.m.
Angell also said he can’t develop a default budget until the board decides which of the three budget proposals it will send to the deliberative session.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.