School Board Tackles Draft Warrants

While the Windham School Board wasn't entirely sure that the warrant articles presented on Jan. 17 would be those on the ballot in March, one thing was for certain: they have a difficult road ahead to quell voter concerns.

There's a contrast, and the board made it clear that they recognize it, between facility needs and a difficult economy.

But Chairman Ed Gallagher asserted that the hole will only deepen if residents shuns solution strategies to avoid higher tax costs.

"One thing's for sure – we can't wait five years and do nothing without some serious ramifications," said Gallagher. "You want to see your property values deteriorate?"

Gallagher was referring to the five-year time-frame that a potential short-term, portable solution would be in place. That will be Article 6 on the school side of the ballot, which will call for a 10-room module on the current middle school site.  Should voters pull the trigger on the $2,172,539 article, the district would enter into a lease agreement.

Board member Jeff Bostic referred to it as a "band-aid solution" to the overcrowding problem, a term used several times in past meetings by various board members.

"This is not going to cover the need, so I want to be real crystal clear about that," said Bostic.

The public's determination to take care of that need will be seen in the result of its vote on Article 2, which if passed will be the first step toward a solution heavily supported by the board: a seventh and eighth grade facility on London Bridge Road.

Gallagher once again lobbied to the public that the need is now, and that the population is growing.

In fact he explained that the population projections show 154 kids coming into the district, enough for an entire grade worth of students.

"We're continuing to swell," said Gallagher.

As it was presented, Article 2 was actually two articles combined into one. Should the town vote to approve it, $1,015,00 would be raised for the Capital Reserve Fund. 

About $750,000 of those funds would be used for architecture and engineering fees, with a second warrant article to be presented in 2013 for the actual building of a new facility. The remainder would go into the CRF, to be used to level the tax impact in years when it would otherwise be too high.

Windham resident Barbara Coish said that if she were on the board, she would split it into two articles, saying she was afraid that voters would immediately vote "no" on the big number.

Gallagher acknowledged that it might not be clear to residents, and that they will take it under consideration before making a final decision next Monday.

Tom Case, a 41-year resident of Windham, also challenged the board, telling them that the economic conditions would repel voter approval.

"It's a lot of money, especially for a guy on a fixed income" Case said. 

He added that while the board presented that the tax rate is only up a small percent from last year, that's not acknowledging the $3 million extra spent for the kindergarten.

Gallagher clarified that the taxpayer impact was actually only $900,000.

Delivering an impassioned outlook on the detriment of overcrowding, Bostic used the district's special education program as an example.

As presented prior to the warrant articles, the budget showed a 10 percent increase in the FY13 special education budget. That rise amounted to $589,738, and Bostic acknowledged that as the program grows, overcrowding will make it harder to handle.

"When you start crowding kids in our schools, it gets hard for those kids to be managed," said Bostic. "You lose creativity and you lose flexibility that our special education creators need to keep kids in our district."

Bostic added that kids who leave don't tend to leave for one year, but rather multiple years.

"You do not want to send kids out, you want them to be a part of our community," said Bostic. 

With that, he said that although he dislikes portables, they will help keep those students in the district now as the board prepares for its long term solution.