KEENE, N.H. (MyKeeneNow) – The Keene School District’s proposed operating budget and all warrant articles are going to the ballot as written following Saturday’s deliberative session.

The proposed $79,100,705 budget is a 3.0% increase over last year’s budget of $76,883,810. The projected tax rate increase is $1.09 per $100,000 of assessed value, bringing the projected education tax rate for fiscal year 2026 to $17.78. If all of the warrant articles pass, it brings it to a total of $18.05.

While the General Special Education fund is up 3.5% in the proposed budget for an increase in adjustment counselors, psych services, and Occupational Therapist and Board-Certified Behavior Analyst services for Charter and private schools, there is a slight reduction in Special Education staffing outlined in the budget. That includes the reduction of one Special Educator and one Special Education Paraprofessional at Franklin Elementary, and the reduction of one Special Education Paraprofessional at Wheelock Elementary.

The reduction in staffing was a sticking point for some voters who attended Saturday’s session.

Keene resident Jennifer Kiernan made a motion to add $250,000 back into the budget for Special Education, citing concerns about heavy caseloads and student need. However, funding added to the budget cannot be earmarked for specific things, meaning that if the funding was added it was not guaranteed to be spent as Kiernan intended.

The issue was brought up at last year’s deliberative session as well, and voters added $500,000 to the budget for special educator positions.

Keene Board of Education Chair George Downing said that student enrollment and caseloads were dropping, and adding those positions back in would essentially over-staff the schools. Downing said the Board’s Education Committee held several meetings throughout the year with the two Assistant Superintendents and the school Principals, asking if they needed the special educator positions that were added to the 2024-25 budget.

“This is the same conversation that we had last year,” Downing said. “Only once over the course of the year did one of the teachers say, ‘yes our needs have reached that level’, and the administration promptly added that position…which is what the board and administrators told you last year would happen if the numbers changed over the course of the year.”

SAU 29’s Chief Financial Officer Tim Ruehr noted that the proposed budget is already higher than what the administration asked for, including everything they asked for and then some.

“This budget has been increased beyond what the administration has requested. Every administrator in their building had everything they requested funded, and the board added additional beyond that,” Ruehr said. “There aren’t $250,000 worth of Special Ed. teacher reductions in this current budget, we’re talking about adding beyond what was requested by the principals…We can debate the 250 and whether it’s needed, but to say that it’s restoring something is a little fictitious.”

Mike Steffan, a Keene resident and teacher at Keene Middle School spoke in favor of the amendment.

“I don’t remember ever being asked, I was never asked ‘what are the needs, do you see increased needs?’ I don’t know if other teachers in the schools are being asked”, Steffan said. “…and we hear this repeatedly that there are kids in the school district whose needs are going unmet … A reduction in numbers doesn’t necessarily mean a reduction in needs.”

Eric Murphy, a Keene voter, spoke in favor as well and said that the $250,000 addition to the budget is a 0.003% increase, and wondered if that really equated to much of a burden for Keene taxpayers.

“I don’t believe that there’s any reason to suggest that the $250,000 addition proposed in this amendment is going to be the tipping point at which all property tax[payers] defeat the budget,” Murphy said.

Ultimately, the amendment failed with 14 votes in favor of adding the funding, and 31 opposed. The $79.1 million budget passed as written and now goes to the ballot in March. If the voters reject the budget, a default budget of $77,683,980 will go into effect, which is the same as the previous year’s budget plus debt service, contracts, and other obligations previously incurred or mandated by law.

The remaining eight warrant articles passed with minimal discussion. They included funds for the collective bargaining agreements between the Board and the Keene Association of principals and Supervisors, and the collective bargaining agreements between the Board and the Keene Paraprofessionals Association, along with a pair of articles that will allow the board to hold special meetings should those articles be voted down at the polls.

Article 6 proposed adding $300,000 from the unexpended fund balance to the “School Buildings Maintenance Fund” for repairing and maintaining the school buildings. That funding comes from the June 30th, 2025, unexpended fund balance of the 2024-25 appropriations, and is not raised by taxation in 2025-26.

New Hampshire House Representative Nick Germana noted that building maintenance is an area where the State is downshifting costs to taxpayers.

Articles 7, 8, and 9 make a few modifications to the Authorized Regional Enrollment Area Agreements with the surrounding towns that send their students to Keene schools for grades 6-12. The agreements must be revisited every 20 years and approved by the State. The modifications include some updated language to align with state law.

Voting is set for March 11th, and all Keene wards will vote at the Keene Parks and Recreation Department at 312 Washington Street. The polls are open from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.