The Barnstead School Board this week approved FY27 budget cuts totaling $447,052 after voters at the annual district meeting reduced its proposed budget by 2.2%.
The superintendent, assistant superintendent, and principal spent Wednesday communicating with staff members about the potential impacts of the budget cuts, and on Thursday, the superintendent published a letter to the community about the reductions.
The school board avoided cuts in special education services, field trips, extracurricular activities, middle school sports, or other student services at Barnstead Elementary School. Operating costs at Prospect Mountain High School are largely fixed during that school's separate budget review process and by a funding formula agreed to by Barnstead and Alton when voters in both towns ratified their joint maintenance agreement (JMA) by a two-thirds majority.
That leaves the school board with little discretion outside of student services at Barnstead Elementary, which the board was reluctant to reduce. The proposed reductions will absorb some vacant support staff positions, and one administrative support position will be eliminated. The services provided by each of these positions will be absorbed at the SAU level, where services can be shared with Prospect Mountain High School and Alton Central School to increase efficiency.
The school will have a total of two fewer teaching positions next year -- one of which was already removed in the board's proposed budget -- with lower enrollment allowing class sizes to remain within the school board's guidelines. The school's Dean of Students position, added two years ago, will also be eliminated.
More than $100,000 is expected to be saved by reducing or eliminating home-to-school and school-to-home busing for Barnstead students who attend Prospect Mountain High School in 2026-2027. The details of those reductions have to be negotiated with the district's transportation contractor before details can be determined, a process that the board expects to complete by June of this year New Hampshire law requires public school districts to provide transportation to students in grades K-8, but not at the high school level unless a studnet's IEP specifically requires specialized transportation, which the district funds separately from its regular busing.
In addition to passing significant reductions to the school district budget, voters and the annual district meeting approved a warrant article adopting the SB-2 form of annual meeting for the school district starting in 2027.