In a vote of four in favor, none opposed and one abstention, the Hooksett School Board approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) presented by the Londonderry School District that sets forth the terms to allow Hooksett students to attend Londonderry schools.
Hooksett School Board chairman Trisha Korkosz and board members David Pearl, Cheryl Akstin and Phil Denbow voted for approval at the Tuesday, Dec. 17 meeting. John Lyscars abstained, stating he has a child attending school in Londonderry.
During the Nov. 26 Londonderry School Board meeting, Superintendent of Schools Nathan Greenberg said the agreement is a good idea because it assists in offsetting Londonderry’s loss of adequacy money (received from the state to assist with education costs), allows the district a higher probability of maintaining present programs and services pre-Kindergarten through grade 12, offsets the possible future loss of stabilization grants presently and next year, does not require additional staff at the high school to accommodate the students, and offers an excellent return on investment, giving Londonderry total control over the number of students admitted.
Greenberg said that over a two-year period there is a possible tuition revenue of $1,480,501 or .45 cents per thousand revenue, to offset a .70 cent per thousand loss from the decline in adequacy funding.
Greenberg projected the revenue for the years FY 14 to FY 17 and said the cumulative revenue gain over that period would total $4,773,056 or approximately $1.45 per thousand.
Greenberg said the present stabilization grant is $1,295,082, and there is no guarantee the grant will continue. He said FY 16 tuition of $1,432,352 more than offsets the possible loss of the grant.
The MOU is for five years and is renewable in five-year increments; calls for accepting a maximum of 40 students per grade level, with a separate process for Special Education students subject to space availability, facilities, programs, staffing and expertise; provides equal access to all programs; charges tuition at a first-year base rate of $10,700, with the parents charged the difference between base rate and calculated cost; and charges supplementary tuition where Hooksett pays an additional cost to the base rate for special education services. If the decision is made to terminate the agreement, students attending Londonderry from Hooksett can continue at Londonderry through graduation.