SWANZEY, N.H. (MyKeeneNow) The 2026-2027 budget proposed by the Monadnock Regional School District School Board will be heading to the ballot in March with no amendments made to the warrant article.

Around 150 people attended the District’s deliberative session on a snowy Saturday morning, and State Senator Donavon Fenton began the meeting by thanking those in attendance, and called them all “true New Englanders” for braving the elements and attending.

Voters in Swanzey, Troy, Richmond, Fitzwilliam, Roxbury and Gilsum will see a $40.8 million budget up for a vote on March 10. The board emphasized how they were able to cut around $300,000 from the default budget of $41.1 million, which was last years budget plus the new initiatives and spending required by votes or law, which is about $1.4 million.

Of the eight warrant articles that were up for debate on Saturday, the debate on article one, the budget, was the most contentious. Antoinette Cincotta, a resident of Richmond, said that the budget for Monadnock has increased every year to educate “fewer and fewer kids” according to Cincotta, and claimed Monadnock students were consistently finishing in the bottom 25 percent on standardized tests across the state of New Hampshire.

Kim DaMasco, another resident of Richmond, said that more money doesn’t mean it’s an investment in the children, and said it was a myth that every dollar spent is an investment despite what it is being spent on. She also claimed that enrollment in the district has dropped about 12,000 students, and that there hasn’t been a return on that investment of money.

Lisa Mulhearn, a Swanzy resident and teacher in Walpole, said that while she didn’t come prepared with papers and studies, she has first hand experience with her classroom, and her two children in the District that there are students who are in the top 25 percent of standardized testing. She emphasized that “..we’re [not] just spending more and more to send more and more,” but that the budget has been increasing because costs everywhere have been increasing.

Discussion over the budget went back and forth over the next half hour, with teacher Elliot Kaplan of Gilsum, excusing his language and saying he “…is damn proud of the students I’ve taught over the last 19.5 years.” Applause was heard throughout the Monadnock Regional Middle/High School Auditorium when Kaplan finished his time at the microphone.

A verbal vote was taken and article one was moved to the ballot with no amendments.

There was a similar, though smaller debate for article two, which was the contract for support staff in the MRSD, which includes classroom assistants and custodians. One resident raised the question of whether this would be added on top of the budget for this year, to which the board replied that it would be, and then would be baked into the budget for the remainder of the contract. This article, as a contract, was unable to be amended.

There was minimal debate on articles three through eight, though there was a question from Cincotta on article eight in regard to what the school would do for building maintenance, and what they would add to the building. The answer was that they would rarely add anything to the building, and that the trust fund established is more for emergency repairs, such as a pipe burst or a roof collapse.

District voters will head to the polls March 10 at multiple locations throughout the Monadnock Regional School District. Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Monadnock Regional Middle/High School in Swanzey; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Samuel E. Paul Community Center in Troy; 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at both Fitzwilliam Town Hall and the Richmond Veteran’s Hall; 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Gilsum Community Center and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Roxbury Meeting House.