Resolution seeks more building aid from state

Two proposed resolutions, including one asking the state to pay the full 55 percent in aid it promises for building projects, will be presented by the Bartlett School Board to New Hampshire School Board Association Saturday in Concord.The association will vote on those two resolutions along with over a dozen others from boards across the state."The 55 percent is malarky," said board member Henry Villaume, who drafted both proposals and will be the one presenting them Saturday. "I say that because you never get the full 55 percent that you're entitled to."In the resolution, Villaume writes, "The N.H. State Building Aid is advertised as typically 55 percent in most cases. In reality it is far from that because of the way it is paid out to the individual qualifying towns. When payments are delayed for several years and then only apply to the principal, the individual towns pay a severe penalty in the form of interest that detracts from the public relations figure of 55 percent N.H. State Building Aid."Villaume suggests creating a financial servicer committee to "study how to provide the state aid in such a manner as to eliminate the interest penalty. There would be no added funds required from the state but a complete change on how they get paid out so, as with vocational education aid, there is no long term pay-out."Villaume offered an example of the current pay-out system."If we take as an example a $15 million bond at four percent with 55 percent NHSBA (works out to $8,250) with payments from the state delayed by five years; then there is interest paid that equals 23.6 percent of the 55 percent of the NHSBA," he said. "The towns make these interest payments and they are buried, not defined as to their actual use, namely to support the borrowing necessary to receive the state building aid."We need to develop a system that can be forecasted by the SAUs and funded only a year behind, thus minimizing the interest penalty. This would be real dollars of the property tax relief for N.H. taxpayers without it being an increased cost burden on the state's funds. Fifty-five percent N.H. State Building Aid would not be a public relations sham to get needed building programs funded."The second resolution deals with catastrophic aid for special education. It states: "When special education cases become very expensive for a town, the law has a a level of aid in the form of direct aid to the towns called 'Catastrophic Aid,' which is paid 12 months in arrears. In point of fact it is not only paid in arrears but it has not recently been paid in full as far as the state's commitment is concerned. The 2006-06 payment is about 70 percent of that actually owed. This is a shortfall of approximately $84,000 for Bartlett."The Bartlett board submitted paperwork earlier this summer that "would encourage the state to fulfill its full responsibility under special education catastrophic aid program."