TL/DR: Please contact your state legislators (addresses/links here) and ask them to Oppose HB 1646 which would force cooperative school districts to restructure their school boards because the bill’s sponsor was voted out of the Exeter Region Cooperative School Board. A story in Foster’s (possible paywall) explains the background in more detail.This bill would force each cooperative school board seat to be tied to one specific town. I talk about why this would be bad for Oyster River.
The New Hampshire House has considered many education-related bills in the 2022 session. Some are targeted specifically at Cooperative School Districts like ours. At least 3 were moved to “interim study” (HB 1366 regarding how coops divide expenses between towns, HB 1399 regarding withdrawal from a cooperative school district, and HB 1679 forcing cooperatives to disband – More on this one here), which means they probably won’t be voted on this year, but will likely come back after a study committee has weighed in.
The official proposal for HB 1646 is here. A story in Foster’s (possible paywall) explains the background in more detail.
I explained my concerns about HB 1646 in the note below that I sent to the State Representatives serving Durham, Madbury, and Lee. You can find your rep’s email contact info here.
Dear Representative _____,
Please actively oppose HB 1646, “relative to representation on a cooperative school district board.” This bill would make cooperative school districts less “cooperative”, violate the principle of equal representation, and be bad for Durham, Lee, and Madbury in the Oyster River Cooperative School District. Rather than adopt this bill as-is, it would be better to vote it ITL or alternatively move it to interim study with other cooperative school district bills (HB 1366 regarding cooperative school board reapportionment, HB 1399 regarding withdrawal from a cooperative school district, and HB 1679 forcing cooperatives to disband).
I write this note on behalf of myself only, but with my perspective as current chair of the Oyster River Cooperative School Board. This does not represent the official position of the school board or the Oyster River Cooperative School District.
With the exceptional number of education-related bills this year, it appears this one slipped under the radar. Both the title and analysis (“This bill requires cooperative school district boards to have an elected member from each preexisting district.”) make it seem innocuous. The analysis is certainly incomplete at best and does not begin to touch the impacts.
If the “analysis” for HB 1646 were correct and complete, Rep. Litchfield, the sponsor, would have no need to file it. Her town of Brentwood is already guaranteed a seat on the Exeter Cooperative School Board and 5 seats on the SAU 16 school board.
HB 1646 seems to be sour grapes –Rep. Litchfield, lost her race for a seat on the Exeter Area Cooperative School Board, and so she’s seeking a change in state law to stack the deck in her favor.
WHAT WOULD THIS MEAN FOR DURHAM, LEE, and MADBURY?
The impact of this in Oyster River would be substantial. With our current 7 member board, we ensure one member is from each town with four elected at large. Oters from all 3 towns elect all 7 board members. This ensures that there is representation from each town on the school board, and also ensures that a vote by a voter in Madbury carries the same weight as that of a voter in Durham or Lee.
As of the 2020 census, the populations were Durham 15,490 (70.6%), Lee 4,520 (20.6%), and Madbury 1,918 (8.8%) for a total of 21,928.
If HB 1646 were adopted as-is, we would need to adopt changes to Oyster River to align with the legislation. If we were to keep the current 7 member board, it seems that the “fairest” way to divide seats would be by population. Using the Huntington-Hill method (used to apportion US House seats between states), Durham would receive 5 seats, and Madbury and Lee each only 1.
WHY THIS WOULD BE BAD FOR MADBURY and LEE: This is pretty obvious. As “junior partners” in Oyster River, Madbury voters now only have one member of the school board representing them, and in every decision a majority would be controlled by Durham. It might seem like this is good for Madbury, since 1 school board member represents fewer than 2000 citizens, compared with over 3000 for Durham and over 4500 for Lee. This inequity violates the principle of equal representation and would likely be found to be unconstitutional. Lee definitely gets the short end of this stick.
WHY THIS WOULD BE BAD FOR DURHAM: We have a smaller pool of qualified school board candidates to draw on when 5 from Durham alone. Assuming that budgets, bonds, and other warrants must still be approved by voters district-wide, the school board would not reflect the district as a whole. Durham would be pressed to divide into wards to make the school board elections even more local, adding unnecessary cost and complexity to our elections.
We would no longer have a cooperative school board where each school board member represents and is accountable to the voters throughout the school district.
The principle of the Cooperative is that the whole district is greater than the sum of its parts. This is definitely true for Oyster River. None of the 3 towns could offer students the same choice for the same cost as we can together. Our full PreK-12 cooperative is also more administratively efficient than districts districts with hybrid coops such as the Exeter Area (which has 8 school boards for 6 towns!).
No model is perfect for every community. Please work to stop Rep. Litchfield’s disappointment in her own electoral loss from destroying the constructive dynamic found in most cooperative school districts across New Hampshire.
This is a classic example of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” This is a local matter that does not need state intervention. Current law serves cooperative school districts well.
Sincerely,
Michael Williams