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Sen. Dan Innes proposes requiring districtwide votes before elementary school closures
Summary
Sen. Dan Innes told the Senate Election Law and Municipal Affairs Committee a petition process should require every town in a multi-town school district to vote before an individual elementary school can be closed, citing small class sizes and $60–$80 million renovation needs as drivers.
Sen. Dan Innes, representing District 7, introduced legislation to change how communities vote on closing elementary schools in multi-town districts. "So what this bill does is says, okay. You wanna close the school... it's a vote by every town in the district, not just the one in which the school resides," Innes said during a committee hearing.
Innes told the committee the idea grew from conversations with a school superintendent in a rural district where average elementary class sizes run about 8 to 10 students and two schools face extensive repairs estimated at $60 million to $80 million. He said consolidating students into the buildings that do not require major renovations could save money and avoid large property tax increases for towns asked to upgrade underused facilities.
The bill would allow a written petition to the school board "by 20 or more legal voters" to trigger consideration of a closure, language the sponsor said was a drafting suggestion and that he would be open to changing. Committee members raised concerns that a flat 20-signature threshold could have different effects in districts with large variation in town populations. "That number probably makes a lot of sense" in a small town like Bradford, Innes said, "but in another community, perhaps that wouldn't be a sufficient number."
Sen. Long told the committee that RSA 194:35 currently requires 20 voters for certain petitions, a point discussed as committee members considered whether the new bill would repeal or replace that statutory threshold.
The committee heard online public input summarized by the chair: two individuals in support and 55 opposed. The committee closed the public hearing on the measure and did not take a final committee vote that day. The bill's sponsor said he was willing to accept amendments on petition thresholds and other safeguards to prevent misuse of the mechanism.
Next steps: the committee closed the public hearing and moved on to other items; sponsors said they were open to amending the petition threshold and other procedural details before further action.
