By Dylan Marsh
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CROYDON — In a historic district vote, the village of Croydon overwhelmingly overturned their school district’s planned budget cut. With 379 registered voters attending, the budget cuts were opposed 377-2. Within New Hampshire state laws, an annual school board budget can be changed as long as half of the town’s registered voters are in attendance. At 379, the village well exceeded the total of 283 voters needed to meet that requirement.
The budget, originally set at $1.7 million, was cut down to $800,000 at the annual school board budget meeting in March. The budget cut was proposed by Croydon Selectboard member Ian Underwood. His wife, Jodi Underwood, sits as the Chair of the School Board. The proposed budget cut passed by a vote of 20-14 at that time.
The low turnout at the annual meeting was reportedly typical of the past few years and many parents have cited complacency as a key reason as to why the meeting was so poorly attended. Reportedly, the proposed budget cut was also not mentioned prior to the annual meeting and was voted on the same night. It is also notable that a snow storm hit Croydon the night of the meeting.“If these budget cuts were to pass it would be devastating,” Croydon resident and educator Michelle Cacavaro said at the meeting Saturday morning.
In response to the voting results at the March meeting, residents formed the group ‘We Stand Up For Croydon’. The group has been responsible for starting the petition that enabled the district re-vote to take place on May 7. “This group is a group of residents trying to restore the budget. We are doing everything we can to get everyone checked in and get the vote going,” said Chris Prost, a founding member of We Stand Up For Croydon.
Traditionally the model for the budget in Croydon goes toward paying the tuition of its fifth to 12th grade students. The village of Croydon only has a one room elementary school house, and children going to middle and high school are sent to other local schools in the area. “A total of 53 students that we tuition out to other schools,” explained Thomas Moore in a presentation before the vote. The majority of those students attend Newport Middle High School where the tuition has recently been raised to $17,000 dollars. Under the proposed budget cuts, there would be only $6,000 dollars allocated per student, with the other $10,000 dollars would be expected out of the parent’s pockets.
The alternative being suggested by the Underwoods and presented in a slide show by school board member Aaron McKeon, are private microschools, such as Prenda and Kai. The microschools cost roughly $5,000 per student and would largely be self taught online. Prenda, for example, would provide guides rather than certified teachers. Presently, the prerequisites for being a Prenda guide are passing a background check, being CPR certified, and being at least 18-years-old.
“I think the companies the board is exploring are a great supplement but it was never intended to be public education,” explained Cacavaro. “This is the United States, we believe in Public Education.”
After each group had presented, each voter was given a ballot, a yes was to be in favor of restoring the budget or a no was to keep it at $800,000. Thomas Moore, a co-presenter in favor of returning the original budget said, “If I had more time I would have gotten into the proposal of the opposition. There are all these flaws that don’t even seem legal and they’re going to end up deficit spending. It just seems like a disastrous plan.” Moore also stated, “I think this was a political movement by a radical group of libertarians called the Free Staters.”
The Free State Project, started in 2001, has been called a political migration. To become a Free Stater, members are required to sign a declaration of intent. The intent you must declare is that you will “move to the state of New Hampshire within 5 years and then once there exert the fullest practical effort toward the creation of a society in which the maximum role of civil government is the protection of individuals’ life, liberty, and property”. According to the Free State Project website, there are currently over 6,000 members living in New Hampshire with 45 elected as State Representatives.
Jodi Underwood, School Board Chair and Free Stater, stated, “If the majority of the town is voting today then good for them. So far a vocal minority has been speaking and they think they’re the majority. I would love to see a change in how we vote, a simple majority doesn’t say what the whole town thinks. I would like to see a responsible budget, some innovations in the ways we educate our kids, and move into the 21st century.” The Underwoods had allegedly been sending out notices in the mail, discouraging residents from attending the vote.
The vote’s result, returning the budget to the original $1.7 million, was met with thunderous applause and cheering from the majority of the voters in attendance. Shortly after the vote was announced, a member of We Stand Up For Croydon announced a petition that would be circulating calling for Jodi Underwood and Aaron McKeon to resign from the school board. “Every single vote counts, the original budget lost by 6 votes. We took for granted everything would go normally at the March meeting and we were wrong. Today is about fixing that mistake, we should never miss an election,” explained Hope Damon, member of We Stand Up For Croydon.
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