BRISTOL — The discovery in July that contracts with pay increases signed in April were invalid left angry teachers uncertain about their jobs as the Newfound Area School District approached the start of a new school year. By the time they were scheduled to begin work, however, they had new contracts with pay at last year’s level, and were negotiating a new benefit package for the 2027-28 academic year.
The confusion arose when the previous administration failed to realize that, because the cost items in a new three-year collective bargaining agreement exceeded the budget increase allowed under the district tax cap, approval required a 60 percent favorable vote. While a majority of voters at the annual district meeting in March approved the warrant article, it failed to reach that threshold. Believing the article had passed, the district issued contracts that included the pay increases.
The NH Department of Revenue Administration did not catch the error right away because of other technical problems in holding the district meeting: School Administrative Unit 4 missed the deadline for submitting a signed warrant and failed to submit the budget on the state’s required forms. There also were concerns about the budget committee having violated state law by voting against the school board’s proposed budget figure without presenting a budget of its own for voters to consider. The procedural defect meeting to validate the annual meeting did not occur until June, delaying the DRA’s own review of what transpired.
The defeat of the collective bargaining agreement in March meant that teacher benefits would continue as they existed last year.
“It’s pretty clear,” said Business Manager Michael Limanni, who returned to SAU 4 in July after working a seven-year stint several years ago. “I don’t know why it took so long for them to make a judgment, especially when both the union’s attorney and our attorney were involved.”