It's no secret that New Hampshire is one of the fastest growing states in the country.
And no part of the state is feeling that growth more than towns in the south.
As a result, many towns are growing out of their schools.
This week voters in many towns were asked to approve plans for new or expanded facilities.
Some complied.
Some decided to spend their tax dollars elsewhere..
NHPR correspondent Avishay Artsy has this wrap up.
For one town in New Hampshire, Tuesday’s vote was historic.
Windham voters approved spending 43.8 million dollars for their first-ever high school.
Right now, the town’s 600 students go to Salem High School.
A plan to build a cooperative high school with neighboring Pelham failed last year after Pelham residents shot down the idea.
The agreement to send Windham teens to Salem expires in 2008, and both towns have voted not to renew the contract.
T33, 4:46 “It’s about growth, and both towns experiencing the growth and both towns having to manage that for their student population.”
That’s Bev Donovan, vice-chairman of the Windham school board.
She says Salem High School is already putting students in portable classrooms to deal with overcrowding.
Ted Maravelias of Windham opposed the school initiative.
He circulated a petition asking residents to put the land purchase on hold and reopen negotiations with Salem.
T32, 1:22 “One of the main arguments for the high school is, they say, Salem doesn’t want us. I feel it’s been, the last three years, the Windham school committee doesn’t want Salem.”
Another opponent at Windham's town meeting was 14-year-old Christine Skene:
T34, 1:02 “I really wouldn’t like it because we’re getting kicked out our last year of high school so it’s going to be switching from one school to the next and then you’re gonna have to get new teachers and all of that, and I’m not really a person who likes doing that.”
But her eighth-grade classmate Gena Stearns said she wouldn’t mind switching before her senior year.
T34, :25 “From going to Salem, it takes too much money, and a long bus ride.”
Windham wasn’t alone in its decision to build a new high school.
Bedford students will soon be getting a school of their own.
Voters there defeated proposals to continue sending students to Manchester's West High School or to build a privately run academy.
And Residents of Weare have agreed to front the 18 million dollars for a new middle school.
Epping voters overwhelmingly approved a 12.5 million dollar expansion project that means the Epping Middle-High School, could double in size.
And in Milford, voters easily passed a 4.2 million dollar, 10-classroom addition to its elementary school.
That addition will make Heron Pond one of the largest elementary schools in the state.
According to Fred Bramante, former chairman of the state Board of Education, all this building is because the state is growing so quickly.
T38, 0:21 “I think that there’s obviously pressure from growth that is making it very challenging for these communities, and ultimately they’re faced with the decision of making their school situations worse by not making the investment, and ultimately seeing their taxes go up. It’s a tough situation for a lot of communities, but I think what you’re seeing from them is the investment in their kids is worth it.”
But not all towns followed the trend.
Allenstown and Epsom residents turned down plans to renovate their elementary schools.
And for the second year in a row Litchfield residents rejected building a new elementary school.
Litchfield resident Dennis Miller has two children attending Griffin Memorial School.
He calls the building dilapidated and says installing sprinklers and a new electrical system would be too expensive.
What's more says Miller, The school's too small.
T36, :16 “Even though there’s a growth ordinance in the town, there’s still probably 100 plus houses that go up every year, and there’s more and more people that want to come live in Litchfield, so it’s not a problem that’s going to go away. You can’t have 600 kids in a school that’s built for 400.”
But Litchfield Selectman Ray Peeples argued that trying to anticipate the town’s growth is a mistake.
T37, 1:11 “Well you can always say this is the final solution, the final plan, but inevitably towns change, zoning changes, we’ll have more people here than we… the town build-out plan says we’re gonna have 12,000. Well, what if zoning changes to a half-acre zoning? Now we could have maybe 15,000 people here and of course the population of the school kids and stuff that that would present… it would take their final solution and flush it. You just can’t project that far into the future.”
The main stumbling block was the school's pricetag: nearly 20 million dollars.
Supporters said that while they may have failed this year, they’re already planning for next year’s town meeting.
As in many towns throughout New Hampshire, growth is an issue that won’t disappear.
For NHPR News, this is Avishay Artsy.
