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‘Third Time’s a Charm’: Charlestown to submit revised plan to N.H. Board of Education

By Patrick Adrian [email protected]
CHARLESTOWN, N.H. — Proponents in favor of making the Town of Charlestown an independent school district hope that “third time’s a charm,” as the saying goes, when the Fall Mountain Withdrawal Study Committee brings their plan back to the New Hampshire Board of Education (NHBoE) next week.

On Thursday, the Withdrawal Committee unanimously approved a number of additions to the plan in which the town would withdrawal from the cooperative district in July 2021 to form its own school district. Under the plan, the remaining Fall Mountain towns — Ackworth, Alstead, Langdon and Walpole — would reapportion the costs to fund the district four ways.

The withdrawal study committee will make their third attempt on Thursday, Jan. 9 to gain the state board of education’s approval of the plan. In the two previous efforts — one on Nov. 21, 2019 and a second on Dec. 12. 2019 — the board requested inclusion of more information to inform their decision.

Terry Spilsbury, a member of Charlestown’s withdrawal group who helped craft Charlestown’s side of the plan, said that the NHBoE must approve the plan by next week if residents want an opportunity to vote on the plan in March.

“If they send it back again, there won’t be time to get it onto the March ballot,” Spilsbury explained.

While Charlestown has made several pushes to leave the district since joining in 1964, this current plan, if approved by the state, will be the first one to receive a district-wide vote.

In 1985, Charlestown voters approved a similar withdrawal plan study, but the withdrawal committee rejected the plan by a 12-3 vote. Proposals to create a new withdrawal study went before Charlestown voters in 1998 and 1999 but each failed to pass.

New counterclaims to the minority report

On Dec. 12, the NHBoE asked the Fall Mountain Withdrawal Study Committee to research potential cost liabilities that were not discussed in the withdrawal plan: sick-time back pay for teachers, Charlestown’s portion of retirement costs, and building renovations and technology upgrades in Charlestown-owned school that the entire district funded. The committee’s minority raised concerns about that these obligations could significantly increase Charlestown’s estimated first year cost.

After consulting with Fall Mountain’s Chief Financial Officer James Fenn, the withdrawal group found that most of those concerns are either nonexistent or significantly less than originally claimed.

The newest version of the plan states that the minority report overstated the amount of several liabilities, which Fenn’s numbers refute. In one example, the minority report claimed that Charlestown would be liable in its first year for $465,000 of district-funded energy project initiated in 2014. According to Fenn’s numbers, Charlestown’s obligation is only $292,361.

“[The $465,000] represents the entire cost to Charlestown for this energy project, including payments already made, beginning in May 2014.”

The report also said that, as confirmed by Fenn, technology upgrades have been fully paid. The minority report stated that Charlestown is still liable for $185,000 of those costs.

The plan also counters the minority report’s claim that Charlestown will owe an additional $290,036 in sick leave buy back pay to teachers, saying that the actual liability to Charlestown is less than $50,000.

“At [this time], there are only 13 employees… eligible to receive the sick leave buy back benefit upon retirement,” the plan states. “Of those 13 employees, only one employee currently works in a school located in Charlestown.”

The report acknowledges that eight of those 13 teachers work at Fall Mountain Regional High School, meaning Charlestown — assuming that they tuition back their students to the high school as planned — would likely absorb some of those teacher retirement costs through the tuition rate in future time.

In the plan it is also indicated that Charlestown would have additional liabilities for properties in a withdrawal transfer. Only one of Charlestown’s school buildings — Charlestown Primary School — was constructed after joining Fall Mountain. Built in 1966, the depreciation in value after 50 years would nullify the amount of $78,000 that Fall Mountain contributed to the construction. Additionally, while the school was renovated in 1999 and again in 2006, little in taxation was used to fund the 1999 project and Charlestown fully funded the 2006 renovation.

Should the state board of education approve the plan next week, voters in the five communities will make the final decision at their town votes in March. Both Charlestown voters and total voters in the five towns would need to approve the proposal for Charlestown to withdraw.

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