By Patrick Adrian
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
NEWPORT — In an unorthodox strategic move, the Newport School District is giving greater visual attention on its school warrant to an article seeking to renovate the Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center than to its proposal for the district’s operating budget.
Traditionally, New Hampshire school districts make their annual operating budget proposals the primary focus of their annual warrants, placing the article as the first budgetary question to voters. Typically additional questions, such as employee contracts or bonded projects, are placed below the main budget question.
But in Newport, this is not a typical budget year.
In March, Newport voters will be asked to consider a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity to renovate its 30-year-old career-tech education building with a state commitment to cover 75 percent of the construction cost. The project has a total estimated cost of $15.4 million, with a state commitment to cover $11 million of the construction and the remaining $4.4 million to be locally funded.
The district plans to reduce the community’s cost burden by applying $2.1 million in federal elementary and secondary school emergency relief (ESSER) funds and raising $280,000 in donations and grants.
The community will be asked to fund a 20-year bond of $1.9 million to cover the remaining obligation. If approved there would be an initial interest payment of $49,000 next school year, with a tax impact of 11 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, or the equivalent to an additional $16.50 on a $150,000 home.
The bond payment in fiscal year 2024 would increase to approximately $147,750, and payment in subsequent years would decrease in annual increments, according to Business Director Ed Edmonds.
The proposed upgrades to the career-technical education school are intended to better align the learning spaces with the evolving needs of modern industries, increase learning opportunities and improve the building’s infrastructure and energy efficiency.
Jennifer Opalinski, director of the Newport regional technical center, noted that many of the facility upgrades constitute repairs that would need to be addressed regardless.
“We have a need for ventilation and electrical improvements, roofs, a boiler, space configuration, and the ability to prepare students for the future, which are all things that really can’t wait,” Opalinski said.
The needed repairs alone are estimated to cost approximately $2 million, Opalinski noted, which exceed the cost of the bond and would not receive a state funding contribution if voters reject the proposal in March.
These upgrades are also necessary to expand student capacity and to align spaces and equipment to modern industry practices, Opalinski said.
“We like to use the example of electric vehicles to show how one industry is shifting,” Opalinski said. “If our automotive lab stayed the same over the next 30 years, it would eventually become a museum. That doesn’t mean that we are moving away from gasoline combustion engines completely but that the curriculum and what the workforce is experiencing is much different than what we have to offer at the center.”
The Newport facility currently offers eight programs, including automotive technology; horticulture; business; natural resources; cosmetology; pre-engineering; health science technology; and welding.
The chosen renovation design would reconfigure classroom spaces to move related fields of study closer together and facilitate the redesign of certain programs. According to Opalinski, the school is planning to develop horticulture into an animal and plant sciences program, which would better align with the region’s agriculture industry.
Superintendent Brendan Minihan said the renovation would enable some programs to expand student enrollment, though some programs have to restrict enrollment for safety reasons.
In a separate article, the district is proposing an operating budget next year of $19,768,269, with $7,574,575 to be raised by taxes. The proposal would have an additional tax impact of 55 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, equivalent to an additional $82.50 on a $150,000 home.
The district spending next year is actually level with the current year, according to Edmond. However, the district was adversely impacted by a revenue decrease of $263,647 in the state funding, also known as Education Adequacy Aid. This reduction alone has a tax impact of 60 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value.
Voters will also be asked to consider a new three-year contract with the Newport Teachers Association, which would increase salaries and benefits by an estimated $318,281 next school year, with an increase of $193,464 in 2023-2024 and an increase of $167,204 in 2024-2025.
If approved, the first year of the teacher contract next year would have a tax impact of 72 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, or the equivalent of an additional $108 on a $150,000 home.
The budget deliberative session, where voters have an opportunity to amend the amount of the proposed operating budget, is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 5, at 9 a.m.
reporter @eagletimes.com
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