Voter’s Guide to the School Ballot
ARTICLE 2 MAIN BUDGET
Shall the Claremont School District raise and appropriate as an operating budget the amounts set forth on the budget posted with the warrant or as amended by vote of the first session and second session, for the purposes set forth therein, totaling FORTY-TWO MILLION NINE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SEVEN THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN.? ($42,957,713)? Should this article be defeated, the default budget shall be FORTY-FOUR MILLION FOUR HUNDRED AND FORTY-NINE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND FOUR? ($44,449,704) which is the same as last year, with certain adjustments required by previous action of the Claremont School District or by law, or the governing body may hold one special meeting, in accordance with RSA 40:13, X and XVI, to take up the issue of a revised operating budget only. The School Board Recommends this Article.
This is the main budget item. It proposes a budget for this coming school year that is A REDUCTION from the budget for this current year.
Vote yes for this Article to reduce the budget and taxes. If this Article is defeated, a higher budget goes into place automatically.
ARTICLE 3 CLAREMONT ADMINISTRATION ASSOCIATION
To see if the Claremont School District will vote to approve the cost items included in the collective bargaining agreement reached between the Claremont School Board and the Claremont Administrators Association which calls for the following increases in wages and benefits at the current staffing level:
Year: Estimated Increase:
2026-27: $0 2027-28: $25,871.82 - $103,487.25
and further to raise and appropriate $0 for the 2026-2027 fiscal year, such sum representing the additionalcosts attributable to the increase in salaries and benefits required by the new agreement over those that would be paid at current staffing levels. The School Board Recommends this Article.
This Article approves the negotiated terms of the Agreement with the School Administrators Association. It includes no increases for next year.
ARTICLE 4 AUTHORIZATION FOR SPECIAL MEETING
Shall District if Article 3 is defeated, authorize the governing body to call one special meeting, at its option, to address Article 3 cost items only? (Majority vote required).
This Article provides flexibility to renegotiate if the Agreement with the Administrators Association is
defeated.
ARTICLE 5 SALE OF BLUFF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PROPERTY
Shall the District vote to authorize the School Board to sell the property located at 10 Summit Road, Claremont, New Hampshire (location of the vacant Bluff Elementary School) with the buildings thereon, in such manner and on such terms as it deems in the best interest of the District, and to further authorize the School Board to take any and all actions to facilitate and/or consummate this conveyance, including securing necessary approvals and executing necessary documents, with said sale subject to the District’s compliance with the statutory right of first refusal provision granted to charter schools by RSA 194:61? The School Board Recommends this Article.
Article 5 allows the School Board and Administration to sell the Bluff School.
ARTICLE 6 SALE OF 52 MAPLE AVENUE
Shall the District vote to authorize the School Board to sell the property located at 52 Maple Avenue, Claremont, New Hampshire (location of the former Masonic Temple) with the buildings thereon, in such manner and on such terms as it deems in the best interest of the District, and to further authorize the School Board to take any and all actions to facilitate and/or consummate this conveyance, including securing necessary approvals and executing necessary documents, with said sale subject to the District’s compliance with the statutory right of first refusal provision granted to charter schools by RSA 194:61? The School Board Recommends this Article
Article 6 allows the School Board and Administration to sell a building it owns on Maple Avenue (the former
Masonic Temple). NOTE this is NOT referring to the Maple Avenue School.
ARTICLE 7 ADOPTING OPEN ENROLLMENT
To see if the School District will vote to designate all of its schools as open enrollment schools pursuant to RSA 194-D, to allow non-resident students from outside the School District to attend schools in the School District in an amount not to exceed ten percent (10%) of each school’s enrollment, and to limit the percentage of students residing in the School District who may attend open enrollment schools located outside the School District to zero percent (0%). The School Board Recommends this Article.
This Article is intended simply to limit the number students that can transfer into or out of Claremont.
It is designed to ensure that Claremont tax dollars are not transferred to other towns to pay for their schools.
ARTICLE 8 ADOPTION OF SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET CAP FOR THE SAU#6 (CLAREMONT/UNITY
Shall we adopt the provisions of RSA 32:5-e, and implement a budget cap whereby the school board (or budget committee) shall not submit a recommended budget that is higher than the 2025-2026 fiscal year per pupil cost times the average daily membership in residence of the school district as of October 1 of the year immediately preceding the proposed budget year plus an annual increase for inflation using CPI-U for the Boston-Cambridge-Newton MA-NH area published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics as of January 1. Requires a 3/5ths majority of the school district (Submitted by petition) The School Board Does Not Recommend this Article
Article 8 would base all future budgets on this year’s
fiscal crisis, making cuts to Sports, Arts and Extracurriculars permanent and forcing the closure of the Tech Center. It would essentially cripple the Claremont School system permanently and do immense damage to Claremont as a community