School Board Goals
District Safety
- Provide for the security and safety of all students and staff
- Evaluate safety procedures
- Make recommended improvements
- Ensure plans are considered within the context of reconfiguration and renovation
District Reconfiguration
- School Board will work towards reconfiguration, using the current RFI/RFP process
- School Board will work towards providing reconfiguration analysis and an implementation plan
Support Administration Academic Goals
- Provide appropriate support for the administration’s ambitious goals of improved math and ELA test scores K-1
- Provide appropriate support for the administration’s goals for social-emotional learning, with an emphasis on “The First Eight Weeks” curriculum and a focus on 8-12 resources for teachers and administrators
Support Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access to all opportunities for students in the District
Financial Updates - Article 5
by Jim Fredrickson
Chairman, Budget & Property Committee ConVal School Board
The fifth — and final — article in this series, "ConVal Trust Funds" (3 pages in length), explains the system of trust funds that have previously been approved by ConVal voters (Athletics, Building Capital Reserve, Energy & Efficiency, Equipment, Health, Special Education Reserve, and Technology) and the six (6) separate Warrant Articles this year that relate to several of these trust funds.
Financial Updates - Article 4
by Jim Fredrickson
Chairman, Budget & Property Committee ConVal School Board
A fourth article, "ConVal School Budget (Warrant Article 01)” (12 pages in length), has been added to the budget page on the ConVal School Board website.
The article explains in detail the budget structure, the proposed FY24-25 district budget and its various components, as well as the expected district assessment.
Financial Updates - Article 3
by Jim Fredrickson
Chairman, Budget & Property Committee ConVal School Board
A third article, “Collective Bargaining Agreement FY25 Modification” (4 pages in length), has been added to the budget page on the ConVal School Board website: schoolboard.conval.edu.
The article explains the background of the Collective Bargaining Modification, the issue with recruitment and retention, and the financial impact on the FY24-25 operating budget.
Financial Updates – Article 2
by Jim Fredrickson
Chairman, Budget & Property Committee ConVal School Board
A second article, “2023 Property Taxes – ConVal School District” (11 pages in length), has just been added to the budget page on the ConVal School Board website: schoolboard.convalsd.net/budget/.
The article explains the 2023 property tax bill, how property taxes are calculated, and how municipal tax rates are determined. The remainder of the article details the school budget, the district tax assessment and apportionment across all ConVal School District towns.
Future articles in this series will be devoted to the proposed 2024-2025 Budget and the proposed March 2024 warrant articles.
Financial Updates – Article 1
by Jim Fredrickson
Chairman, Budget & Property Committee ConVal School Board
It’s “Budget Season” again – that time of year when there is a lot of activity going on from a school budget and property tax bill point of view. In addition to the annual budget development process, we are also in the middle of several other “activities” that could impact future budgets and property taxes:
- Reconfiguration/Consolidation Project
- Contoocook Valley School District et al v. The State of New Hampshire lawsuit (in New Hampshire Superior Court)
As such, it’s time to start our annual series of articles regarding the financial aspects of running the ConVal School District. Here’s a brief preview of some the articles we’ll be publishing between now and the vote in March:
- Overview of Budget Schedule (included in this article)
- 2024 Property Tax Bills and Funds “retained” and “returned” to towns in the School District
- Details of proposed FY25 School Budget and other Warrant Articles (subject to voter approval in March ‘24)
- Proposed revisions to the current Collective Bargaining Agreement directed at improving the recruitment and retention of our teachers, services professionals, and paraprofessionals.
- Summary of various District Trust Funds (and associated Warrant Articles).
Although a special warrant article resulting from the ongoing “Reconfiguration/Consolidation Project” being performed for the District by Prismatic Services will be included on the March ballot, we will not include a separate “Financial Article” on that. A Community Forum is scheduled on December 11, 2023.
Likewise for the recent NH Superior Court decision (in our favor) regarding the ConVal School district lawsuit regarding the adequacy of state funding for education. It is not clear at this point whether this decision will be appealed, whether the legislature will take timely action, and how much the local education portion of your property taxes will be impacted or when.
All of these new articles (as well as all previous financial publications) will all be available on the ConVal School Board website: schoolboard.convalsd.net/budget/.
Jim Fredrickson (Sharon Chairman, Budget & Property Committee ConVal School Board
FY24 ConVal School Budget Schedule
by Jim Fredrickson
Chairman, Budget & Property Committee ConVal School Board
FY24 ConVal School Budget Schedule
Included below are the key dates and events associated with this budget cycle. Several of these have already been completed:
- June 30, 2022 – last day of FY22
- “Preliminary” Property tax bills issued
- July 1, 2022 – 1st day of FY23
- Audit of FY22 financials (ongoing)
- Aug/Sept 2022 – Board developed and approved “FY24 Budget Guidance” to be used by the Superintendent and staff to develop the proposed School Budget for FY24
- November 5, 2022 – Annual School Board Budget Meeting
- November/December – Towns issue 2023 Property Tax bills
- January 2023 – Board finalizes and “approves” proposed FY23 Budget
- Public hearing on proposed Budget – January 10, 2023
- January 2023 – 2nd Board sponsored Community Forum (date TBD)
- February 7, 2022 – Deliberative Session
- March 7, 2022 – Voting day (FY24 Budget)
- July 1, 2023 – 1st day of FY24
The two most significant changes this budget cycle include:
- the “return” to taxpayers of unused funds from FY22. The exact amount will be determined when the ongoing audit of FY22 is completed, but we already know that the amount will be significantly lower than the unprecedented amount “returned” from FY21. This will be covered in detail in the next article.
- Inflation is going to be the “wild card” for FY24.
Budget “Guidance”
We’ve all felt the impact of rising costs and we’ve all pulled up to the pump recently and “enjoyed” the lower gas prices now compared to a few months ago. When we develop our budget, we need to acknowledge that costs are going to be higher, but just how high? The fact that the FY24 School year will run from July ’23 through June ’24 makes it more difficult.
Salaries and benefits for District staff account for more than 70% of our costs. District voters approved a three-year contract for teachers, paraprofessionals, and specialized service professionals this past March. FY24 will be the second year of the contract – which establishes the FY24 salary increase for the majority of the District’s employees. This reduces some of the uncertainty associated with estimating the effect of inflation to include in the proposed budget. Several other multi-year contracts in place also help.
The Board recently provided the Superintendent with “guidance” to be used to develop the initial FY24 budget: maintain the status quo. In other words, do not include any significant new programs but do include planned upgrades to technology, curriculum, etc.
Annual School Board Budget Meeting
The annual School Board Budget meeting will be held on Saturday November 5th at the District offices. The Superintendent and staff presented will present the initial proposed budget. This will be an informative meeting – decisions on specific aspects of the budget will be discussed and voted on at regularly scheduled Board meetings. You will have several opportunities to review, discuss, and eventually approve it. We encourage and welcome your participation.
Stay tuned for our next article in this series – it will discuss how the FY23 school budget affects your property tax bill.
ConVal School Budget Guidance
by Jim Fredrickson
Chairman, Budget & Property Committee ConVal School Board
Budget “Guidance”
We’ve all felt the impact of rising costs and we’ve all pulled up to the pump recently and “enjoyed” the lower gas prices now compared to a few months ago. When we develop our budget, we need to acknowledge that costs are going to be higher, but just how high? The fact that the FY24 School year will run from July ’23 through June ’24 makes it more difficult.
Salaries and benefits for District staff account for more than 70% of our costs. District voters approved a three-year contract for teachers, paraprofessionals, and specialized service professionals this past March. FY24 will be the second year of the contract – which establishes the FY24 salary increase for the majority of the District’s employees. This reduces some of the uncertainty associated with estimating the effect of inflation to include in the proposed budget. Several other multi-year contracts in place also help.
The Board recently provided the Superintendent with “guidance” to be used to develop the initial FY24 budget: maintain the status quo. In other words, do not include any significant new programs but do include planned upgrades to technology, curriculum, etc.
Annual School Board Budget Meeting
The annual School Board Budget meeting will be held on Saturday, November 5th at the District offices. The Superintendent and staff presented will present the initial proposed budget. This will be an informative meeting – decisions on specific aspects of the budget will be discussed and voted on at regularly scheduled Board meetings. You will have several opportunities to review, discuss, and eventually approve it. We encourage and welcome your participation.
Stay tuned for our next article in this series – it will discuss how the FY23 school budget affects your property tax bill.