The ConVal School District has been struggling with its budget in recent years. There is constant pressure to increase taxes, cut school programs or close school buildings.

When addressing a problem, it’s often helpful to look at the root cause. This is not necessarily an easy or straightforward task. The question is, “Why has our district been facing budget shortfalls in recent years?” I’d like to caution folks that the effort to close schools doesn’t mean that these schools are the cause of our budget problems. Our town elementary schools are simply the only place left to turn for board members and administrators as they desperately work to do more with less.

The current debate about school consolidation, and whether the voters or the School Board should have that decision-making power, has brought to light lots of information about the costs associated with our district schools. If I suggested that you could save 4% off your next grocery purchase by simply removing 36% of the items from your list, I doubt I’d get any takers. But this is the ratio suggested by the Prismatic report.

These numbers alone tell me that our small schools are not the cause of our budget woes. We can’t recover all the programs that have been cut over the last decade with a 4% boost to the budget.

If our elementary school buildings aren’t the cause, then what is? Our superintendent has mentioned the public money, originally intended for public schools, that is instead being funneled into private hands via New Hampshire’s Education Freedom Accounts. Statewide, charter schools receive district money to fund their significant transportation and special education costs. Peterborough state Rep. Jonah Wheeler has pointed out policies enacted by a majority in our state Legislature and our governor that are destructive to public education.

It seems the root cause of school budget shortfalls points squarely at policy decisions made at the state level. If this is the case, it means, as Prismatic reported, that ConVal is not spending inefficiently. It means that, as tax records indicate, our small-town elementary schools aren’t “draining the system.” It means that recent court rulings in ConVal’s favor, requiring increased per-pupil funding from the state, are justified.

Understanding all this still doesn’t add one penny to our budget. Increased state funding will likely be tied up in appeals courts for years. But understanding the true cause of the problem may prevent us from mistakenly blaming our school board or small-town schools. Recent state policies have been designed to undercut public education while lifting up private institutions. If what we are facing are the consequences of libertarian, “school choice” state policies, is it wise to play into the hands of Frank Edelblut and company by further damaging ConVal’s public school system?

When a district anywhere in New Hampshire sells a closed school building, the right of first refusal must be given to any charter school organization that is interested (NH RSA 194.61 passed in 2021). A town is powerless to purchase its own school if a charter school decides to buy the building. This is why forming a charter school is one of the options being explored by some of the targeted towns. Hancock considered this in the past when their school was on the chopping block.

Our townspeople love our schools and prefer them in their current form, as public schools that truly serve the entire community. But if a charter school organization takes them over, we’d prefer that organization be local as well. This is how state policies can force supporters of public education onto the charter school path.

Let us be weary of the true, long-term consequences of any decision to close our excellent, well-run, public elementary schools. If you value public education and its role in our community, I encourage you to vote no on ConVal’s Article 10.

Perhaps we can all benefit from the grass roots efforts that have been energized by this recent consolidation debate. Clearly, local people on both sides of the issue care deeply about our schools and want to support them. This could be an opportunity to engage our wider community in the effort to overcome these challenges to public education funding.

David Stahlin is a Francestown resident.