January 21, 2025

Dear Dresden Community Members,

I am pleased to share highlights of the remarkable accomplishments of our students, teachers, staff, administrators, volunteers, and community members over the past year. Through the thoughtful and tireless dedication of our school team and the support of our community in Hanover and Norwich, we have made significant progress toward implementing the SAU 70 strategic plan. The 2025-26 Dresden budget and warrant articles are a direct reflection of the hard work taken to engage students’ hearts, minds, and voices to be empathetic, critical thinkers, responsible, and excellent communicators.

Please join us in congratulating our Dresden students whose achievements this past year were supported by our talented educators and community members.  Here is a brief sample of their achievements:

Richmond Middle School

• RMS was the only middle school to compete in a field of 27 high school Quiz Bowl teams from New Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont. The RMS teams competed in the Novice Division and the Richmond A and B teams won first and sixth place, respectively.
• An all 8^th-grade Robotics team, The Robotic Rays, won the State Championship and qualified for the World Championship in Houston, TX in April, making two straight years that RMS has had representation at the World Championships.
• The Orange Submersibles, the Grade 6/7 Robotics team, won first place in the Robot Game with the highest score in the state and third place in the Innovation Design Category.
• Sixteen student council members took part in a leadership retreat with Dartmouth College.
• Seven student musicians qualified for the all-state band.
• 137 students participated in Walk/Ride/Roll to School Day which reduced energy consumption and increased student physical activity.
• Student council implemented and oversees monthly donation drives for the Haven.
• RMS continued the tradition of staffing an aid station for the CHaD Hero.

Hanover High School

• HHS received the Special Olympics New Hampshire School of Excellence Award for 2023-24, recognizing an inclusive, collaborative, and respectful school climate.
• NASA selected a 12-student team to collect data during the current solar maximum for its Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project, supporting NASA’s mission to study space, weather, and its impacts.
• Students in Youth in Action donated 336 hours of community service during the first semester of 2024-25.
• 22 student musicians were selected for Classical all-state including earning the four highest scores in the state.  Five student musicians were selected for Jazz all-state and achieved the two highest guitar scores in the state.
• Grade 10 students presented in the annual Lillian Bailey speech contest with 16 finalists performing in front of the class and community members.
• Over the 2023-24 season, HHS won seven state championships and five athletics teams finished second.  Girls and Boys Cross Country teams won the state championships in Fall 2024.
• In addition to the Winter 2025 production "Turn of the Screw", HHS students have written and directed four short plays to be included in the performance.
• For the second year, HHS offered a Computer-Aided Design (CAD) class and six students earned Onshape Associate certifications, passing exams aimed at entry-level engineers.

These achievements and many more would not be possible without the support from local taxpayers and generous donors.  During the last year, the Dresden School Board graciously accepted over $175,000 in private donations to fund projects including the purchase of audio enrichment for additional reading support, the restoration of the athletics field and equipment, travel expenses for March Intensive and competitive club trips to national competitions, and the HHS launch of NASA’s Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project team.  I join the rest of the Board in our admiration and gratitude for the continued generosity of our community and give special thanks to the Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation.

Due to its legal structure, one of the donations requires approval by voters to establish a new student fund in honor of the contributions of Robert B. McCarthy and Linwood (Skip) Bean, two former HHS administrators, see Dresden Warrant Article 7 for more information.  We thank voters for your consideration of this and the following warrant articles for the 2025-26 school year.

The significant changes in the 2025-26 warrant articles largely reflect the key strategic priorities for Dresden in the coming year.  The main topics the Dresden School Board addressed this year are aligned with the four overarching goals stated in the SAU 70 Strategic Plan:

1. Amend support staff contracts to be market competitive in order to fill critical, open positions that provide rigorous, engaging, and equitable instruction for all learners (Academic Goal), see Dresden Warrant Article 3
2. Clarify roles between town and school for middle school sports administration and other co-curricular programming to more effectively deliver physical health and community-building programs (Student Support Goal), see Dresden Warrant Article 6
3. Engage in longer-term capital planning that is fiscally responsible and environmentally sustainable (Facilities Goal), see Warrant Articles 4 and 5
4. Pursue additional revenue opportunities to address challenges caused by potential changes to state education funding models and streamline administrative duties by becoming an administrative services regional hub (Organizational Goal), see Warrant Article 5

Aside from the strategic priorities listed above, the Dresden operating budget presented in Warrant Article 5 is predominantly, though thoughtfully considered and adjusted, the current programming offered rolled forward a year adjusted for inflation and contracted agreements.  The Dresden operating budget for 2025-26 requests a 0.54% expenditure increase (Warrant Article 5), excluding separate warrant articles. 

The largest expenditure drivers of the operating budget are a) the teachers’ contract approved by voters last year which includes a 4% base wage increase, b) a 12.9% increase in health plan premiums and election changes, and c) an increase in the SAU 70 assessment.  The health insurance rate hike is in line with other school districts and plans consistently outpace prevailing inflation.  The $1.26 million debt retirement from older construction projects and the modest dip in the New Hampshire Retirement System contribution rate for teachers helped to shield the district from the impact of the total expenditure increase.

Given the questions surrounding possible changes to the state education funding models in Vermont and New Hampshire this year, it is important to provide voters with the opportunity to answer with a transparent, discrete vote on new expenditures where practical, specifically Warrant Article 6.  The Dresden School Board supported all warrant articles presented to voters.  Assuming all warrant articles pass, the expected growth in total Dresden expenditures is 2.34%.  Over the last twelve months, the inflation rate for the Northeast region was 3.5% (December 2024).

The Dresden School Board looks forward to navigating the future ahead as the ever-changing winds of public education funding models across both states seem determined to chart different and variable paths for an interstate school district like Dresden.  By moving forward with these initiatives, we strive to be in a stronger position to navigate these currents together.

Kimberly Hartmann
Chair, Dresden School Board

In November, I had the distinct honor of traveling to Washington, DC, with Principal Lauren Amrhein to accept the 2024 National Blue Ribbon Award on behalf of the Ray School. Ray was one of 356 Blue Ribbon schools recognized by the US Department of Education in 2024; Ray was the only New Hampshire public school to receive a Blue Ribbon Award this year, and the only New Hampshire school recognized in the category of “Exemplary High Performing School”. (Hanover High School received the same award and category in 2022 and 1983, as did Richmond Middle School in 1998 and 1988.) We were nominated by employees at the New Hampshire Department of Education using our state assessment scores as the criteria. Hats off to our students, staff, administration, and community for this spectacular achievement!

As a result of the 1963 interstate compact between Hanover and Norwich, the public educational system in Hanover involves 3 separate school boards: 

1. The 7-member Hanover School Board oversees the Ray School, Special Education for Hanover-based students from Pre-K through Grade 12, and Hanover bus transportation.
2. The Dresden School Board, a collaboration of the Hanover School Board and the 5-member Norwich School Board oversees the Richmond Middle School and Hanover High School.
3. The SAU 70 School Board, a collaboration of the Hanover and Norwich School Boards, oversees the SAU 70 office that houses the Superintendent, Business Administrator, and other education administrators that assist the Hanover, Dresden, and Norwich school districts. The SAU office budget is funded by contributions from the Hanover, Dresden, and Norwich School Districts and does not have a separate voted budget.

During the 2023-2024 school year, the Ray School had an unexpected drop in students, from 459 to 438, due to a low kindergarten cohort. Thankfully, we have bounced back to 463 students currently and we expect approximately 468 students in the 2025-2026 school year. Although the current 1st grade cohort remains low at 58 students, our other grades have increased in size and now range between 74 and 84 students. This increase has prompted a need for an additional certified teacher for this budget cycle, although we anticipate a slight decrease in total Ray staff due to changes in student needs for behavioral specialists and interventionists. 

For the overall Hanover School District budget, we are anticipating a 4.09% increase from approximately $15.74 million in 2024-2025 to $16.38 million in 2025-2026. In addition to the staffing changes mentioned above, other significant cost additions to the budget include technology education, special education tuition, and administration, while significant savings were seen in site improvements, guidance and health services, and debt servicing.

In addition to the annual general budget and standard recurring warrant articles, the Hanover and Dresden School Districts will each have negotiated special warrant articles that have budgetary implications. Primarily, we will present a 3-year collective bargaining agreement for our Hanover and Dresden support staff and a 1-year collective bargaining agreement for our Hanover and Dresden service staff.

Among the assorted school taxes, the Hanover School District projects a net assessment increase of 6.25% and the Dresden School District projects a net increase of 3.32%. Assuming all the warrant articles for both districts pass (including our annual budgets) and current projections hold, then the cumulative effect of these tax rates (and the separate State School Tax) on the Hanover Total School Tax Rate would increase by $0.50, or 4.30%.

The Hanover School Board, as always, has numerous folks to thank. We appreciate our Hanover community for the time, trust, and resources you have given us to oversee our children’s education. We thank our children for coming to our school community ready to participate, learn, and excel. We thank our dedicated parents and volunteers for their involvement, time, and expertise. We are grateful for our devoted teachers, staff, and administrators for helping our children reach their full potential. As always, it is a true privilege to be part of the Hanover School Board, the Ray School parents and community, and the broader Hanover community. 

Benjamin Keeney,
Chair, Hanover School Board
 

Last year at this time we were in the throws of trying to manage the impact of Act 127 (the implementation of the Weightings Study) on the Marion Cross School and Town of Norwich.  We were wrestling with how to work with a 5% cap mechanism that was supposed to temporarily assist towns like Norwich who were seeing increases of 30%+ in their tax rates because of Act 127.  Little did we know that over the next month nearly every school district in Vermont (including those who were supposed to benefit from increased tax capacity from Act 127) had proposed budgets that exceeded the 5% cap!  With only weeks to go before Town Meeting, education finance bill H.850 was passed and the 5% cap was replaced with a tax rate discount that would apply only to those towns most negatively impacted (of which Norwich was the worst).  Luckily our Administration and School Board had produced a thoughtful budget that the voters thankfully supported at Town Meeting and on Voting Day last March.

However, last year’s budget season made it clear to everyone across Vermont that the current education funding system in Vermont is not sustainable.  Last spring a Commission on the Future of Public Education was created to study the situation and make recommendations for changes.    

It is with this backdrop of uncertainty that we entered this year’s budget season.  Knowing that we can only control our own MCS budget, we recommended guidelines for the 2025-26 total budget to increase between 1.5% - 2.0% and the K-6 Operating Budget to increase 0%, exclusive of any labor contract settlements, as compared to the 2024-25 budget.  The K-6 Operating Budget excludes those items out of the MCS Administration’s control, including SAU 70 expense, Special Ed Out of District Tuition, Transportation, Capital Expenses and Debt Service (related to the septic and playground improvements).  

The final budget came in slightly below (better) than these budget guidelines.  Student enrollment is projected to be flat at 326 (including Pre-K).  Staff numbers are essentially flat, decreasing by 0.06 FTEs to a total of 54.89 FTEs.  The Board is proposing an MCS total budget increase of 4.12% - which includes for the first time in a few budget cycles the current Teacher and Support contracts that are being ratified as we speak.  The Regular Education budget – which represents 43% of the overall budget – decreased 0.78%.  Areas of increase include medical insurance; the SAU 70 Assessment; transportation; and changes in Special Ed partially offset by an increase in the Census Block Grant.  Debt Service increased due to the MCS facility projects coming online (more on those below).  This was offset by a decrease in Building Improvements as projects were finished.  

This results in a Homestead Tax Rate decrease, after the discount, of approximately 3%.  The discount decreases each year for the next 3 years until it goes away completely.  Without the discount the Homestead Tax Rate would have increased approximately 8%.  Which means we will need to continue to monitor future budgets closely.  Our tax rate is also impacted by the Dresden portion of the budget which is about half of our total education expenditure.  Our Dresden Administration and Board colleagues similarly passed very reasonable budgets which resulted in the Norwich portion of the Dresden assessment increasing by approximately 4%.  The Dresden budget has benefited from significant decreases in debt payments as the debt related to building the Richmond Middle School and a substantial renovation to Hanover High School 20 years ago has been paid off.  Meanwhile there are some necessary improvements for future budget years that have been identified as part of the facilities assessment and strategic plan.  To that end, the SAU 70 Board voted to hire a firm to assist with the planning of future projects district wide which I believe is a responsible strategy.

As it relates to the MCS facility – this past year was very exciting.  We thank those in the Business Administration and Facilities offices who helped manage multiple projects that have been in the planning stages for a long time.  The new septic system is now complete.  The new heating system that replaced an oil-based / steam system is installed.  LED lighting and other weatherization items are in process.  And the project with perhaps the biggest daily impact on the students and staff – the new playground – was completed just before the ground froze.  A number of these projects have been long overdue.  And some of them have enabled us to reduce costs while also working to achieve the goals set out in our SAU 70 Sustainability Policy.  

This brings me to the amazing job that our MCS administration and staff continue to do at MCS.  Despite the State funding upheaval and uncertainty described above, we continue to make every effort to support these individuals who deliver the best public education possible to our students.  It is a refreshing part of our monthly Board Meetings to listen to Principal Gonyaw’s monthly reports.  There is a clear plan of success driven by strategic goals and processes.  We are regularly provided with updates based on data with the goal of continuing to improve student outcomes for every student at MCS.  MCS was recognized for the second consecutive year as the #1 performing elementary school in Vermont by U.S. News & World Report.  

This next year is going to be eventful as it relates to the education funding in Vermont.  There will likely be some very important decisions and changes made to the education system.  At the end of January 2025, the Secretary of Education and Tax Commission briefed lawmakers on the Scott Administration’s education transformation proposal.  The proposal eliminates supervisory unions and consolidates Vermont’s school districts into five districts statewide (from 52 today) – each with part-time elected school board members and roughly 10,000 – 15,000 students and one with almost 34,000.  It also recommends a shift to a foundation funding formula where the state determines a base amount of money per student.  There are also proposed changes to the weightings implemented as part of Act 127.  

I think most residents of Vermont agree that changes are needed.  The current fiscal situation is untenable.  However, there is a lot of uncertainty about what changes should be made.  I encourage you all to pay close attention and communicate with our local legislators as the changes will have significant impacts on the future of public education in Vermont.  As I concluded last year, despite all the uncertainty, we are very lucky to have such a great school system that is a direct result of outstanding teachers, Administrators, and supportive Townspeople.

Garrett Palm
Chair, Norwich School Board

Statement on the Proposed Dresden School District Budget for
FY2025-26

The Hanover Finance Committee (HFC) is an appointed Town committee composed of Hanover residents¹ charged with reviewing school and municipal financial matters and offering guidance on those matters to public officials and residents. Although the Dresden Finance Committee has been discontinued, the HFC still makes every effort to understand the impacts of the budget on both the Hanover and Norwich communities.

During a public meeting on January 16, 2025, HFC voted unanimously to support the proposed FY26 Dresden School District Budget of $31,239,668 (Article 5), and the collective bargaining agreements with both the Hanover Support Staff (Article 3) and the Hanover-Dresden Service Staff (Article 4). The HFC took no position on the middle school athletics proposal (Article 6) but discusses briefly below.

The FY26 budget benefits from a scheduled $1.3 million drop in debt service payments. After all costs from all articles are factored in, the Dresden budget will increase by $725,250 or 2.34%). Factoring in lower tuition revenues and lower state aid yields an increase in the amount needed to be raised by taxation equal to $982,463 (3.61%). By town, based on per pupil splits, Hanover’s share of the Dresden assessment increases $629,188 (3.3%) to $19,577,763, while Norwich’s share rises by $353,275 (4.3%) to $8,604,979.

Including all warrant articles, school-level budget spending increases are $504k (5.3%) at the Richmond Middle School (which expects a budget-to-budget decline in enrollment of 5 students) and $600k (3.4%) at Hanover High School (which expects 12 additional students). The “district- wide” portion of the budget is down by $907k (-25%), reflecting the reduction in debt service mentioned above.

An anticipated 13% increase in health insurance coverage, together with census-driven insurance changes alone yield an almost 2% increase in the expenditure budget. Another 1.8% can be attributed to contractual obligations for wages in the teacher’s union agreement approved by voters in 2024. The HFC appreciates that the Dresden Board and administrators were careful in their budget deliberations to prioritize spending, and that several adjustments were made accordingly. However, we note that, without the $1.3 million year-over-year decline in debt service payments in the proposed FY26 budget, total spending would have increased by $1,458,160 or 4.69%. But for this significant one-time debt service reduction, FY26 tax assessments to Hanover and Norwich would have nearly doubled – from 3.3% to 6+% for Hanover taxpayers and from 4.3% to 7+% for Norwich taxpayers. Looking to future years, the Dresden District will not be able to count on such one-time cost reductions to avoid large increases in tax assessments and should plan accordingly.

Additionally, an anticipated step-up in capital spending stemming from both the strategic planning and capital improvement programs will likely drive cost pressures in the coming years. Together with on-going healthcare and personnel cost pressures, the HFC foresees the need for continued careful evaluation of staffing levels and incremental initiatives during a multi-year period when enrollment is expected to be flattish to down slightly. In its review, the HFC noted that on a ten- year “look back” administrative costs appear to have grown significantly faster than non-administrative costs… highlighting one such area for careful review.

Comments on New Middle School Sports Program

One new initiative this year is the introduction of sports to the middle school (with attendant

additions of staff and transportation). Article 6 calls for a “year one” outlay of $201,291 to fund an athletics program at the Richmond Middle School, including the hire of a Middle School Director of Athletics and Co-Curricular Activity Coordinator. While some taxpayer costs might reasonably be expected to be relieved from the Town of Hanover Parks & Recreation department, previously tasked with running athletics for this age cohort, it should be noted that a number of costs borne by parents of middle school students will now be paid for by the Dresden district. These include transportation, coaching, equipment and uniforms. HFC members noted that the absorption of these costs for middle school athletics would be similar to the practice of most other communities in New Hampshire, but took no position on this article.

Comments on Collective Bargaining Agreements

The three-year collective bargaining agreement between the Board and the Hanover Support Staff Association (Article 3) would increase the status quo budgets by $228,889 in FY26, $121,142 in FY27, and $119,724 in FY28. This includes a 10% spending increase “on the base” in the first year, followed by 4.5% increases in both years two and three. Additionally, prior year hires may now be eligible for placement on a higher pay scale step to reflect prior comparable experience – credit for which had been capped under the old contract. Taken together, the pay increases and the contract language change on step increases are efforts to both attract and retain qualified paraprofessionals. They address an endemic issue that has hampered our ability to fill vacancies in regular and special education assistant positions. Accordingly, the HFC supports this agreement while noting that the high level of such increases should be viewed as one-time adjustments to reflect workforce market realities.

The one-year collective bargaining agreement between the Board and the Hanover-Dresden Service Staff Association AFSCME (Article 3) would increase the status quo budget by $97,838 in FY26. This includes a 4% increase on base pay, an increase in the night shift differential from $0.70/hr to $1.00/hr, and an increase in the longevity payment by $200/ year for each level. For context, these increases are intended to help the district fill more than a half dozen open custodial positions with local hires, paring back use of outsourced services. The HFC supports this agreement.

In closing, HFC commends SAU and Dresden administrators, and the School Board, for a well-run budget process. HFC also extends its thanks and applauds the efforts of students, faculty and staff in continuing our district’s pursuit of educational excellence.

 1 Members are John Dolan, Rich Greger, Greg Snyder, Antonia Barry (Hanover School Board) and Carey Callaghan (Hanover Selectboard).