Granville Voters Vote To Okay
School Budgets A Second Time
By Martha Slater

A record number of Granville voters filled the town hall May 7 to re-consider their school budget. The budget articles passed by paper ballot votes back in March, but a petition signed by 17 registered voters who were dissatisfied with those results, forced a re-vote.

During the more than three-hour meeting, voters again approved their support of the Village School, as well as the total budget for the Granville School District.

Article 1, asking $420,816 for the support of the Hancock-Granville Joint School District, with Granville’s share $136,135, passed 47-45.

The crowd had begun to thin when it was time to vote on the total Granville School budget for $832,725. The verdict was 46 "yes" and 32 "no."

Consideration of Article 3, to terminate the joint school agreement between Granville and Hancock generated a lengthy discussion. The article was rejected 40-28, so the school will stay open.

The final item proposed authorization to apply for a loan "not to exceed $25,000," from the state’s drinking water revolving loan fund for water system improvements. Once it was explained that the loan would be forgiven by the state, and the taxpayers would have no out-of-pocket costs, it was approved unanimously on a voice vote.

Prior to the voting, school board chair Tammie Beattie reviewed items on the warning, compared the costs of maintaining the village school vs. tuitioning all K-12 students, and outlined the benefits of maintaining the community school.

Beattie compared the amount of funds needed for the two options of maintaining the village school, ($9,981 per pupil) or paying K-12 tuitions ($10,366 per pupil; a figure arrived at by averaging tuition from area schools). She showed that there was a $4,000 savings for maintaining the village school vs. tuitioning out the students.

The board has taken all extracurricular costs out of the budget, but Beattie showed a number of grants received for materials and programs, totaling over $25,000. This included $5,000 raised by the Village School PTO to pay for playground equipment, a museum trip, and a number of other enrichment programs, some in conjunction with Rochester School. The school no longer needs the town hall for a classroom, and the town can now have the use of that space.

"Our small school offers a sense of pride and community for the town, and provides a sense of continuity and heritage for our students, because we’ve been here 151 years," Beattie concluded.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, selectboard chair Norm Arseneault asked what was being done about the deficit of $190,000 expected at end of fiscal year, but no definite answers were available at that time.

Town clerk and school treasurer Kathy Werner told The Herald this week, however, that since the meeting, the school district has received approval for two loans. A loan of $150,000 from the Mascoma Bank will be used to pay off a previous loan for that amount with the Citizen’s Bank. Also, a portion of an $80,000 line of credit with the Mascoma Bank will be used to erase the remainder of the deficit, and leave some cash on hand.

In the meantime, Werner said, the school district has applied for a $250,000 general obligation bond from the Vermont Municipal Bond Bank to pay off the two new loans.

"The bond would take 10 years to pay off," Werner explained, "but, the good thing is, if we get it, we can include a portion of it in each year’s budget."

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