By Dylan Marsh
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CLAREMONT — At a lightly attended special school district meeting, voters approved state funded adequacy aid for the district.
The education grant, totaling roughly $482,094, comes by way of a warrant article recommended and presented by the school board at the meeting on November 3, 2022.
The additional funding comes from SB 420 and has the intended purpose of improving student achievement in a number of subjects with a focus on language arts. With the approved $482,094, the school administration and school board will choose one of two curriculum to purchase, both with a focus on language arts. Some portions of the funding will go towards other aspects of education with a goal of student achievement including behavioral support and training.
The warrant article presented by the school board with guidance from school district attorney Matthew Upton, was originally intentionally vague. After an initial school board meeting with the original proposed warrant article potentially didn’t meet state guidelines, school board members voted to table the discussion until they were able to speak with Upton. After speaking with legal counsel, a new warrant article was written that stated the funds would be used for student achievement as pursuant to the state bill.
School board member Joshua Lambert, who voted to approve the presentation of the warrant article, spoke not only to the importance of voting in favor of the article but also leaving it as it is, for the sake of flexibility. The concern being that if the article were amended in a way that tightened up opportunity and those options didn’t pan out, the school board would have to immediately come back and once again discuss ways to spend the money, potentially slowing the availability of curriculum to students.
“We know that these funds will be used to advance the process of having, purchasing and implementing new instructional programs,” Lambert said. He would go on to later state, “The warrant article is written exactly as it should be.”
Before the final vote for the article, it was amended by former school board member David Putnam and seconded by New Hampshire State Representative Gary Merchant. Putnam’s amendment to the article intends to intentionally include science and technology within the spending options of the aid money. He also sets forth a rule in which the school board would have to present their purchasing plan to the Department of Education for approval.
Merchant also spoke to the importance of accepting the warrant article as students were significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic over the last two years. He stated, “Towns like Claremont need additional funding to help the children who survived two years of covid. Sadly those two years put them behind the 8 ball, some communities more than others, Claremont specifically. In order to help them close the gap we need the money that we normally would not be able to raise with taxes.”
According to Upton, the amendment to the warrant article is language taken straight from HB 420 itself and in now way should negatively affect the school districts ability to spend the funding in an appropriate manner.
A motion to accept the amended article was made by school board member Heather Whitney and seconded by Steve Horsky. Claremont residents in attendance voted unanimously in favor of the warrant article and the funds will be spent on student achievement. Another roughly $355,000 will be sent to the district the following year as is specified in HB 420.
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