KEENE, NH – The proposed operating budget for the 2023-2024 school year in the Keene School District is ready for voters at the deliberative session following Tuesday’s budget hearing.

The board went into the hearing with the proposed $71,782,857 budget in hand. It was a bit of an increase over the current budget, mostly attributed to rising energy and other such costs.

During the meeting the board did discover an error made at a previous meeting in which $600,000 was deducted from the maintenance budget twice, and the overall budget was adjusted to $72,383,857.

To offset some of the higher costs, the board had elected to cut three elementary special education positions. This move drew the majority of the feedback at the meeting with teachers, special educators, and members of the community bringing up concerns of the implications of the absence of those teachers.

The board defended the decision by saying they had looked at the caseloads and the number of IEP’s coming into the schools, which is declining. But those who spoke in opposition at the meeting said the numbers are only a fraction of what goes into teaching a special education student.

Ultimately, the board voted 6-2 to add $259,515 to the budget to keep those special ed positions. They also passed a motion 7-1 to add $86,505 to keep elementary schools equitable and removed $185,307 by cutting three para positions at Franklin Elementary.

The final budget wound up at $72,619,570, which passed unanimously.

The warrant that will go before voters at the deliberative session featured four more articles, including collective bargaining agreements between the board and the Keene Education Association and the Association of Tutors, and a pair of articles allowing the board to hold special meetings should those articles be defeated.

The deliberative session will be held on February 4th at Keene High School beginning at 9 am. It will also be livestreamed on the SAU 29 website and Facebook page. The public will be able to vote and make changes at that meeting. Voting is set for Tuesday March 4th, where all wards will vote at the Keene Rec Center.