KEENE, N.H. (MyKeeneNow) – The proposed operating budget for the Keene School District’s 2026-2027 school year is heading to the ballot as presented. Dozens of people attended the district’s 1-hour long deliberative session on Saturday where Jaclyn Headings, Chair of the Finance Committee, presented the $82,426,334 proposed operating budget. That’s a 3.4% increase over the 2025-2026 school year budget, or $2,730,798. The current education portion of the tax rate is $17.50. If the proposed budget passes at the polls, that would increase by $2.22 to $19.72. That’s a 12.74% increase to the school property tax rate, which equals $221.91 per $100,000 of assessed property value. Non-discretionary spending makes up the majority of the budget. According to the Keene Board of Education’s data, $55,722,238, or 67.6% of the budget is spent on salaries and benefits. Other non-discretionary funding adds up to $18,188,104, or about 22% of the budget. That includes purchased services, transportation and special education transportation, utilities, repair, and maintenance, projects and construction, student tuition, debt service and insurance, and other miscellaneous costs. A small portion of the budget, about 4% or $3,365,992, is allocated for discretionary spending, which includes transportation for field trips and athletics, books, supplies, equipment, furniture, and software. “We often hear, and I see it in the news, I see it in social media chatter, that there’s all kinds of fluff and extras in this budget,” Headings said. “This budget is built with a lot of mindfulness, and is looking at, as I said, that enrollment snapshot and then building to that level. Our enrollment has dropped; our population is decreasing with the birth rate … so we are seeing that impact. You can see that the bulk of our budget is the salary and benefits, the nondiscretionary, and then you see the budget transfers and the discretionary … that’s a very small portion of the budget.” After a handful of public comments voters at the session approved the budget and it will appear on the ballot as presented. If it fails at the polls, a default budget of $81,724,152 will go into effect, which is the same as last year with adjustments required by previous actions of the district or by law. Article 2 concerns open enrollment in the district. Voters will be asked whether to adopt New Hampshire’s open enrollment law, allowing a limited number of out-of-district students to attend district elementary schools. The proposal would permit up to 50 non-resident students across four K–5 schools, while not allowing Keene residents to enroll in schools outside the district. The proposal would admit up to 15 students each to Fuller and Symonds Elementary schools, and up to 10 students each at Franklin and Wheelock Elementary schools. Keene Middle and Keene High School are not included because they already have tuition agreements with surrounding towns. Under state law, school districts are required to vote on open enrollment, as those that do not establish a program with defined limits on incoming and outgoing students must pay tuition costs to districts or schools that do offer open enrollment. If the article doesn’t pass, New Hampshire RSA 194-D:5 states “For an open enrollment school authorized by a receiving school district, the pupil’s sending district shall pay the receiving school district an amount equal to not less than 80 percent of the sending district’s average cost per pupil as determined by the department of education using the most recent available data as reported by the sending district to the department.” Failing to enact an open enrollment program does carry risk for taxpayers, according to the board. A Keene student enrolled in another district as part of their open enrollment authorization would cost the district the amount of tuition, which would be a minimum of 80% of Keene’s cost per-pupil, or at least $16,286 per student, plus special education costs. Superintendent Robb Malay said that the number of students allowed to enroll in schools outside the district is set to 0% because allowing even 1% to do so would add roughly $592,000 to the operating budget. “If we’re required to pay tuition to other districts to educate our kids, that becomes an additional expense for us, which is why it was important for us to consider the percentage we are sending out to zero,” Malay said during Saturday’s session. “In order for us to do that we have to have an open enrollment program. The only way you can have an open enrollment program is to say you will receive, so by having an open enrollment program we get to define what comes in and what goes out.” Those were the only two articles on the district’s warrant this year. The second session – voting at the polls – is set for March 10th. Polls will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. and all wards will vote at the Keene Recreation Center at 312 Washington Street.