Jaffrey Selectman Kevin Chamberlain plans to propose a cut to the school district budget during the Jaffrey-Rindge Cooperative’s deliberative session next week, a move which likely would affect staff positions if implemented.

Members of the Jaffrey Select Board attended the district’s budget hearing, raising objections to the proposed operating budget of $27.5 million. While the School Board reduced two warrant articles designed to save funds for contingencies educating special education students and building maintenance, the total budget was left untouched going into the district’s deliberative session Feb. 9.

During last week’s Jaffrey Select Board meeting, Chamberlain said the proposed increase and the impact it would have on Jaffrey residents is too steep, saying it would increase the school tax rate by more than $4 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. He announced he plans to, as a Jaffrey citizen, propose a reduction to $26.7 million – essentially eliminating the $760,000 increase from the current budget – during the district’s deliberative session.

Even that, he said, would likely have an impact of at least $2 per $1,000 on Jaffrey’s tax rate, because of the shift in student populations and how the school’s apportionment formula works.

However, District Communications Coordinator Nicholas Handy stated Monday afternoon that the impact of the proposed operating budget is estimated at $3.09 per $1,000 for Jaffrey and 94 cents per $1,000 for Rindge. It is only after all the warrant articles are added together, Handy stated, that the estimated tax impact would be $4.29 per $1,000 for Jaffrey and $1.85 per $1,000 for Rindge. 

Under the default budget – defined as the prior year’s budget with mandated changes – Handy stated the tax impact would be an increase of $2.60 per $1,000 to Jaffrey and 57 cents per $1,000 to Rindge. 

According to Handy, before the budget hearing, the proposed tax impact to Jaffrey of the operating budget and all articles passing was $4.85 per $1,000 and $2.28 per $1,000 for Rindge – a figure which included the articles that were reduced during the hearing and a third article to address repairs to restrooms throughout the district, which was eliminated.

Sterling plans to support amendment

Jaffrey Select Board Chair Franklin Sterling said following Chamberlain’s announcement, the board agreed to schedule a meeting with the district Superintendent Reuben Duncan on Wednesday. Sterling said while Chamberlain may be acting as a private citizen, he will support the amendment, as the proposed increase is not sustainable, particularly for those on fixed incomes.

“I do share his concerns. Very much so,” Sterling said. “The impacts on Jaffrey are going to be severe.”

Jaffrey students make up 56% of the district population, meaning under the funding formula, Jaffrey pays more for the funding of the district. This is a shift from 2019, when 150 students withdrew from the district, likely due to COVID-19, and primarily from Rindge Memorial School. While some of those students have returned, the district population remains below those 2019 numbers – a total of 1,287 students compared to the 1,401 student population in 2019.

At that same time, Chamberlain said staffing has increased by nearly 10 positions.

“I’m not anti-school by any stretch of the imagination. I’m not anti-maintenance and all the things they presented – there’s truly justification out there,” Chamberlain said. “I don’t feel that Jaffrey can take a hit that large in one year. It’s a massive hit on the tax bill.”

John McCarthy, a Jaffrey representative on the School Board, said he understands the concern, but he said most of the increased costs the district is facing are fixed, and the district  would have to look elsewhere if the cut is approved – including to staffing.

“It’s been an extremely difficult year throughout the country, and we’re not an exception to that,” McCarthy said.

Students, he said, came back to school from virtual learning, and need more support, not less.

“We’re reluctant to cut positions, knowing that,” McCarthy said.

He added the district already cut one unfilled administrative position, as well as eliminating a total of $657,000 from proposed warrant articles to try to lessen the blow.

“There’s not a lot of wiggle room,” McCarthy said. “We’re trying to do what we can,” he said.

The district’s deliberative session will be on Feb. 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the Rindge Memorial School gymnasium.

Ashley Saari can be reache d at 602-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.