ConVal budget set to go up 3.13%

By JESSECA TIMMONS

Monadnock Ledger Transcript 

Published: 01-21-2025 12:00 PM

The proposal ConVal operating budget of approximately $59 million represents an increase of slightly less than $1.8 million over 2024-2025, or 3.13% increase. 

Four members of the public attended the Thursday’s annual budget hearing, in which interim Superintendent Ann Forrest said the increase is mostly caused by rising costs in health insurance and transportation.  In 2024, the district’s health insurance costs jumped 24%, causing the district to offset the cost to taxpayers with funds from the health care trust fund. The increase for 2025-2026 is 14%, and the cost of dental insurance went up 5%. 

Roughly 75% of the district’s budget is made up of salaries and benefits, with 47.9% comprised of salaries and 27.4% of benefits. In total, the cost of benefits went up $1.066 million

At a December budget hearing, the district announced it would eliminate 11 teaching positions in the 2025-2026 school year in order to cut costs. Overall, the district will spend $225,205 less than last year in staff costs.

“We revised staffing needs based on class size policies,” Forrest said.

Health insurance benefits for district faculty and staff are part of the collective bargaining agreement and cannot be renegotiated outside of the total contract. The district and the ConVal Education Association, which represents the teacher’s union, ratified a new two-year contract this month. 

Proposed transportation costs for 2025-2026 are $3.6 million, an increase of $770,304, or 27.7%, over 2024-2025. Forrest addressed the rising cost of transportation, explaining that the district is required by state and federal law to provide transportation for children with special education needs and to transport children who have become unhoused back to their home district.

“Our increases in transportation are driven by the costs of transportation and tuition. They are driven by IDEA and the McKinney-Vento law,” Forrest said. “When our bus company can’t provide transportation, we  have to go to outside sources. The district has a  legal obligations to send children to schools that can meet their needs, and sometimes this is outside of the district.”

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The federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act mandates that school districts provide transportation for children who have become homeless to back to their school of origin. 

IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, mandates appropriate public education to eligible children with disabilities, ensures special education and related services to those children and supports early intervention services for infants and toddlers and their families. 

Board Chair Dick Dunning urged the public to reach out to their state legislators if they have concerns about special education funding or their property taxes. 

“We suggest you make your state representatives aware if you have concerns,” Dunning said during the public comment portion of the hearing. “The state has slashed special education funding, and it is going to come right back to us taxpayers and our local property taxes.” 

The ConVal district is currently underenrolled and operating about 40% of capacity. In 2023-2024, the board proposed reconfiguring the district’s eight elementary schools to four schools to cut costs, improve educational equity between larger and smaller schools, consolidate resources and cut down on staff travel time.  The proposal was defeated by voters last March after communities mobilized to save their local schools.

Six of the teaching positions being eliminated for 2025-2026 are in the district’s eight elementary schools. While both Francestown and Dublin are looking to withdraw from the ConVal district, subject to a vote in March, that change would not go into effect until fall 2026. 

The board approved a default budget of $58.1 million, or a difference of $893, 297. 

“The default is about halfway between the approved and the proposed default,” said Jim Fredrickson, representative from Sharon and chair of the Budget and Property Committee. 

Betsy Villaume, Select Board member from Hancock, asked in public comment if the numbers for trust funds, warrant articles and a breakdown of special education costs are available in the budget. Forrest said the board is voting on the district’s annual report at its next meeting on Tuesday, and that once that report is approved, it will be available to the public.