By Patrick Adrian EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CROYDON — The Croydon School Board said it sees no way so far to operate its district within the $800,000 budget that voters approved for next school year without running up a deficit, regardless of which educational model it adopts.
At a public hearing on Friday, Croydon school board members admitted their inability to find a feasible way to operate next school year within the budget that Croydon voters approved on Saturday, March 12, after amending to cut the board’s proposed budget by 53 percent.
Vice-chair Aaron McKeon said he has explored numerous approaches but has found none that would fit within an $800,000 limit.
“The best I have done is around $905,000, which would leave no wiggle room and be an uncomfortable budget for sure,” McKeon said.
Many families and residents are hoping to rectify the situation on Saturday, May 7, when a special meeting is scheduled to revote on the district’s budget. If the vote passes, the school budget will be increased to $1,705,000, slightly higher than the board’s original recommendation.
But to hold that vote Croydon must have at least half of the town’s registered voters in attendance, or 283 town voters.
Defenders of the $800,000 budget are hoping to foil the 50 percent turnout goal by encouraging residents not to attend the meeting
“The status quo died on March 12,” said resident Jim Peschke, a former school board official and staunch fiscal conservative.
Should the revote fail, Croydon’s highly-touted school choice program, which funds tuition for students in grades 5 through 12 to attend a choice of public or private school, will be in serious jeopardy.
If limited to an $800,000 budget, the school district would only be able to fund a partial tuition to most of the schools, less than $9,000 per student, rather than the full amount. Families would have to pay the remainder out-of-pocket.
Yet the situation gets even murkier from there.
Under state law, each school district must guarantee families access to an adequate, fully-funded education. Croydon, whose only school building serves grades K through 4, contracts the Newport School District as Croydon’s “anchor district,” or guaranteed fully-funded school option.
But Croydon would not be able to pay those full tuition under an $800,000 budget, according to school officials, requiring Croydon to find an affordable alternative.
That proposed alternative appears to be “microschools” or “learning pods,” a small-group learning module consisting of a ratio of five to 10 students per instructor.
The Croydon board is looking to contract microschool services from a pair of area companies: Prenda, which has a contract with the New Hampshire Department of Education to provide services, and Kai Pod Learning, a Massachusetts-based company.
But Croydon families say they are not keen on this alternative, calling these programs a poor substitute for a traditional school experience.
Residents also question the legality of declaring microschools a publicly funded education.
“I want to follow the law and I want to spend my tax money wisely,” said resident Lynn Touchette. “But I want to spend it on education, not on legal fees that our town will incur when our families file lawsuits.”
While New Hampshire has a contract with Prenda to provide educational services, Croydon residents noted that the contract defines Prenda’s role as being “supplemental,” which raises the question of whether Prenda can be a community’s primary education provider.
Croydon is also the first New Hampshire community to attempt making microschools its primary education system, so the legality of it is completely unknown.
“I feel like we are on shaky, experimental ground,” Moore said. “I’m nervous that we are going to get ourselves in legal bind.”
Board Chair Jody Underwood said she does not foresee legal issues and claimed she has spoken to officials in the state Department of Education on the matter. However, Underwood admitted that the board has not consulted legal counsel for the school district.
Board member Kevin Morris, who was elected to the board in March, said he objects to making microschools the district’s primary education option.
The school board also discussed the possibility of amending the proposed $1.7 million to a lesser amount at the May 7 meeting.
While board members said the current budget is too extreme, the original proposal was padded on the conservative side in case of unanticipated costs.
Morris said he would feel comfortable with a reduction of $100,000. Underwood
The board members concurred that the district could safely reduce the $1.7 million proposal somewhat, since that proposal was conservatively padded in case of unanticipated costs.
Board member Kevin Morris, who was elected to the board in March, said he would feel comfortable should voters on May 7 wish to amend the proposal by about $100,000.
Underwood said she would like to see a reduction of “at least $100,000.”
But Moore reminded residents of the district’s misstep a few years earlier, when the community passed a “bare-bones’’ budget. The budget had no extra funds that year to absorb an influx of new students, putting the district into a sizable deficit, which town residents had to pay off the following year.
“I’m not saying that we can’t go through it and try to find something,” said Thomas Moore, a former board member. “I want to try to meet people halfway. But we also have to be careful with that.”
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