Letter to the Editor: Vote no on Charlestown withdrawal

There has been an ongoing debate in the Fall Mountain Regional School District involving the towns of Acworth, Alstead, Charlestown, Langdon and Walpole concerning the pros and cons of Charlestown withdrawing from the school district.

The reasons given for withdrawal are that “Charlestown residents are paying too high in taxes to support the school system” and that “Charlestown residents want local control of their school choices.”

Let me try to bring some clarity to this.

First of all, our taxes are high because the state has a broken system. The New Hampshire Legislature has enacted comprehensive standards for an adequate education, but the amount of aid the state provides to meet these standards is woefully insufficient. While the average annual per pupil cost was $15,865 in the 2017-2018 school year, the state’s main “adequacy grant” provides only $3,636 per year. Some school districts also receive “stabilization grants,” which were recently restored after three years of cuts. But even when all of these state grants are added together, the state pays only about 20% of the cost of K-12 public education in New Hampshire. More than 70% of the cost of educating our children is paid by local property taxpayers at tax rates that are wildly disproportionate from town to town.

Secondly, Charlestown residents already have local control, but we just don’t use it. If we want to have some say in the process, we need to attend school board meetings, attend selectboard meetings, and other forums that would keep us updated and in the know.

Withdrawal from the district will not bring down our taxes – it is more likely to increase them. Kids would be tuitioned to other school districts, such as Claremont, Newport and Springfield, Vt. It is unlikely that Fall Mountain will accept students from Charlestown. That is another story.

Please vote no on Article 11.

Lisa DeBartolomao

Charlestown, NH