The ConVal School Board would like to share the following information regarding the warrant article approved and filed by the member community of Francestown to study withdrawal from the ConVal School District.

On May 3, 2025, Francestown held a Special Town Meeting and voted to petition the ConVal School District to study the feasibility and suitability of Francestown’s withdrawal. The Withdrawal Study Committee, having already formed to study the case of Temple’s withdrawal, has now additionally taken up Francestown’s study. The committee consists of one school board member from each of the nine ConVal towns and one Select Board member from each of the nine ConVal towns. The makeup of the committee is dictated by state statute (RSA 195:25).

By statute, the committee has 180 days from its first meeting regarding Francestown on May 22, 2025, to complete its study and report its findings to the ConVal School Board as well as to the State Board of Education. The committee has expressed its intention to adhere to a shorter timeline as established by the prior Temple study and State Board of Education deadlines. It is the intent of the committee to complete the study by October 21, 2025, indicating whether withdrawal from the school district “is recommended, not recommended, or whether more time and information are needed to make a determination” (RSA 195:25, II).

If the committee recommends the withdrawal of Francestown, the committee would develop a withdrawal plan and file the plan with the State Board of Education by November 1, 2025. Should the State Board of Education approve the withdrawal plan, residents will vote on the issue in March 2026.

Should the committee not recommend withdrawal, it must file a report with the State Board of Education, as well as the ConVal School Board, and the committee is then dissolved (RSA 195:25, IV).

When withdrawal is not recommended by the committee, members of the committee who voted to recommend withdrawal may file a minority report with the ConVal School Board and the State Board of Education recommending withdrawal. The minority report would be filed by October 21, 2025. In addition to the minority report, members recommending withdrawal would also need to develop a withdrawal plan and submit the plan to the State Board of Education by November 1, 2025. If the State Board of Education approves the withdrawal plan, residents will vote on the withdrawal plan in March 2026.

Withdrawal Study Committee meetings are open to the public. Meeting times will be posted to the district calendar. Minutes from these meetings can be found on the School Board website: schoolboard.conval.edu/en-US/minutes-agendas-56ef752d

The New Hampshire Supreme Court’s recent landmark ruling in the ConVal school funding case represents a significant step toward fulfilling the State’s constitutional obligation to fund public education fairly and adequately.

The Court reaffirmed what local school districts have long known: the true cost of providing a constitutionally adequate education is significantly higher than the current state funding levels. For the 2024-25 school year, the State provided base adequacy amounting to $4,182 per student, but the Court recognized that the minimum base adequacy cost must be at least $7,356.01 per student. They held that the “trial court’s declaratory judgment calculation was conservative, supported by the record, and eminently reasonable.” For context, the average cost per pupil in New Hampshire for the 2023-2024 school year was $20,323, more closely reflecting the range of expenses required to operate public schools. The declaratory judgement of $7,356.01 accounts for basic, but critical, school operations that have been historically underfunded or entirely excluded from the State’s definition of adequacy, including student transportation, school nurses, and the maintenance of school buildings and facilities.

For too long, these essential costs have been shifted onto local property taxpayers, placing an especially heavy burden on communities with lower than average property values. The Court’s decision moves us closer to a system where the State, not local taxpayers, meets its constitutional responsibility to fund public education.

While the Supreme Court upheld the need to increase base adequacy funding, it did not require the State to implement the increase immediately. Instead, a majority of justices chose to give the Legislature and Executive Branch the opportunity to resolve this issue promptly. However, it is important to note that two justices dissented on this point, citing the State’s 30-year history of legislative inaction and warning that further delays risk continued harm to New Hampshire students’ constitutional rights.

As a school board, we stand committed to advocating for a funding system that ensures all students in New Hampshire receive the education they are guaranteed under the State

Constitution, regardless of their ZIP code or the property wealth of their community. We urge our state leaders to take swift and meaningful action to address this long-standing inequity.

We want to thank former Superintendent Dr. Kimberly Rizzo Saunders, Superintendent Dr. Ann Forrest, former members of the ConVal School Board, and our legal team, Dean Eggert, Michael Tierney, and Elizabeth Ewing from Wadleigh, Starr, and Peters, for their leadership in this case. We also want to thank all the school districts that joined and supported this action.

On July 1, the New Hampshire Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in the ConVal school funding lawsuit, upholding most of the 2023 Superior Court's ruling. On Wednesday, July 16, the NH School Funding Fairness Project (NHSFFP) will host a webinar, starting at 6:00 pm, to explain the decision and its implications for the future of school funding. To register for the "ConVal Ruling Webinar: What it Means for NH Public Schools," please click the button below.

On Wednesday, June 4, a Community Forum was held in the Lucy Hurlin Theatre at ConVal High School. The topic of discussion was the New Hampshire public school system and how it is funded.

Speakers from the NH School Funding Fairness Project described the state's excessive reliance on local property taxes to finance schools in an hour-long presentation that went into detail about how property owners carry a disproportional and unequal burden to finance education. The presentation was followed by an extensive Q&A session.

The slide deck that guided the presentation can be found here. The event was also recorded on YouTube and can be accessed here.

The mission of the NH School Funding Fairness Project is to inform the public about the condition of New Hampshire public schools and their funding; to advocate for changes to make the system more equitable for students and taxpayers alike; and, if necessary, to prosecute, manage, control, and/or participate in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the system for funding education in New Hampshire.

Join school board members, administrators, teachers, parents and representatives from the NH School Funding Fairness Project (NHSFFP) for a one-hour community conversation with a Q&A session about how New Hampshire funds its public schools—and why it's leading to unequal tax burdens and unequal opportunities for students.

The Community Forum will take place on June 4 at 7:00 PM in the Lucy Hurlin Theatre at ConVal High School.

The speakers will share local data, explain recent court rulings, and talk about what's next and opportunities to make an impact. This event will focus specifically on the ConVal School District and the challenges its towns face under the current funding model. There will be time for questions and discussion.

Please click here to register.

Why register?

Registration helps us prepare materials tailored to the towns represented. We won't sign you up for anything unless you choose to opt in. Presented by the New Hampshire School Funding Fairness Project, a nonpartisan nonprofit working to make school funding more fair for students and taxpayers.

Thank you to all the voters who expressed their support for the ConVal School District on March 11, 2025. The detailed vote outcomes for each of the 11 warrant articles and ConVal School Board positions can be accessed here.

All inhabitants of the Contoocook Valley School District, consisting of the Towns of Antrim, Bennington, Dublin, Francestown, Greenfield, Hancock, Peterborough, Sharon, and Temple, who are qualified to vote in District affairs, are invited to participate in Voting Day on March 11, 2025.

The voting locations and times are as follows:

• Antrim: Town Hall, 8 a.m. – 7 p.m.
• Bennington: Town Hall Gym, 8 a.m. – 7 p.m.
• Dublin: Town Hall, 8 a.m. – 7 p.m.
• Francestown: Town Hall, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
• Greenfield: Greenfield Elementary School, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
• Hancock: Meeting House, 8 a.m. – 7 p.m.
• Peterborough: Community Center, 8 a.m. – 7 p.m.
• Sharon: Meeting House, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
• Temple: Town Hall, 7 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Please check with your town to confirm this schedule.

The Contoocook Valley School District Board is in receipt of a Petition Warrant Article which seeks to adopt a School District Budget Cap. The School Board is required to hold a public hearing on the question in each town embraced by the District.

The text of the Petition Warrant Article is as follows:

“Shall we adopt the provisions of RSA 32:5-e, and implement a budget cap whereby the School Board shall not submit a recommended budget that is higher than 29,000 dollars 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, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.”

(Submitted by petition)

For a complete schedule of meeting locations, dates, and times, please click here.