Will Conway use the weighted vote to elect new SAU chair Thursday night?

Conway school board members may exercise a weighted vote in the SAU, a method of using their clout to place a Conway board member at the helm of the SAU 9 board. The SAU reorgnaization meeting is slated for 6:30 p.m. Thursday evening at the Albany Town Hall.Last month, Conway School Board member Mark Hounsell said it was time Conway had more say at SAU 9, and suggests that the board use a weighted vote a state-sanctioned method of wielding additional clout in SAU decision-making based on a school district's student population.Hounsell eventually backed away from pushing the change but said Conway needs to ensure that a member of its board becomes chair of the SAU when the SAU board meets again May 11 to reorganize. Conway, with the largest school enrollment, has the opportunity to use the weighted vote on SAU matters but has not done so in 15 years.At a recent meeting, Hounsell went as far as to nominate colleague Rebecca Moore to be the chair of the SAU board to succeed longtime chairman Jane Gray of Eaton. He later withdrew the motion, but not without lively discussion."We're at a time where a lot of things affect the town of Conway," Hounsell said, pointing out Conway pays 70 percent of the SAU funds for SAU 9."We need to be prepared for things," he said. "One example is if Albany makes the decision to go to Madison (for elementary school), that's OK, to me they then become part of SAU 13. ... Our place and our duty is to the taxpayers of Conway. Things have been happening from time to time that are contrary to the interests of Conway."Under the SAU board's current one-member, one-vote approach, Conway potentially has seven out of 27 potential votes at an SAU meeting.Superintendent Carl Nelson explained, "Basically, what a weighted vote is, it's only used in the SAU, it's established by a formula in the RSAs," based on student population. Conway's weighted vote equivalent the amount of votes allocated to Conway board members on the SAU board is 86 out of 142 weighted votes total.Bartlett receives a 31-vote equivalent for its student population; Jackson, nine; Albany, eight; Eaton, five; and Chatham and Hart's Location, one vote equivalent apiece."They take the number of board members that are present and divide it into the total number of votes each district gets," Nelson said. The result is the voting strength of each district's SAU board representative.Hounsell proposed using the weighted vote to install a new chairperson on the SAU 9 board."I think someone from Conway School Board could do a very good job as chair," Moore said. "Unless we can garner the support, then we may have to use the weighted vote."Weighted voting is defined under RSA 194-C:8: "In all votes regarding school administrative unit affairs, including the organization of such unit's school board and selection of officers each district shall be entitled to one vote for each 16 pupils residing in that district and enrolled in schools under the administrative unit. A balance of eight or more students shall entitle that district to an additional vote."Hounsell remained committed to the idea of weighted voting."I have no problem using the weighted vote to represent the interests of Conway," he said.Hounsell called it fair representation of patrons to a school district."I think my position is consistent with the one-person, one-vote principle that's important in a democracy," he said.