The Keene School District first-session meeting placed multiple warrant articles on the March ballot, including two cost items arising from collective-bargaining agreements, a maintenance-fund appropriation from unexpended fund balance, and three regional enrollment (AREA) agreement renewals.

Votes at a glance
- Article 2 (Principals & supervisors contract): The meeting approved forwarding the cost items and a current-year appropriation of $74,277 (cost items for 2025–26) to the ballot. The Board recommended a yes vote. (On-record vote tally not specified.)
- Article 3 (If Article 2 fails — special meeting authorization): Approved to allow the Board to call one special meeting to address Article 2 cost items only if Article 2 is defeated. (On-record vote tally not specified.)
- Article 4 (Paraprofessionals contract): The meeting approved placing the paraprofessionals’ negotiated cost items on the March ballot and an appropriation of $220,554 for the current fiscal year. The presenters noted a multi-year cost and estimated tax impacts (approximately $0.10 in year-over-year tax rate impact and roughly $9.76 per $100,000 of assessed value over the contract period). (On-record vote tally not specified.)
- Article 5 (If Article 4 fails — special meeting authorization): Approved to allow the Board to call one special meeting for Article 4 cost items only if Article 4 is defeated. (On-record vote tally not specified.)
- Article 6 (Add up to $300,000 to school building maintenance fund): Approved. The sum will come from unexpended fund balance as of June 30, 2025 and is not to be raised by taxation for 2025–26. The presenters noted the fund target of about $2,500,000 and a current balance near $1,300,000; the $300,000 addition is intended to replenish the fund for emergency facility repairs.
- Articles 7–9 (AREA agreements): The meeting approved amendments to the grade 6; grades 7–8; and grades 9–12 authorized regional enrollment-area (AREA) agreements. The amendments align language and renewal dates and extend each agreement for 20 years. Each amended AREA agreement had been approved by the New Hampshire State Board of Education (state approval dates referenced in the meeting materials).

What voters heard
Board presenters summarized contract increases and where to find salary and compensation tables in the annual report. For the principals’ agreement, the presenters explained range adjustments to address employees who had topped out of their ranges and noted changes to health-insurance buyouts. For paraprofessionals, presenters provided the estimated multi-year cost and cited the approximate tax-rate impacts. On the maintenance fund, the presentation used the example of a major boiler failure as the type of expense the fund covers. On AREA agreements, presenters said the changes were largely language-alignment and routine 20-year renewals, and that the agreements had been cooperative among sending and receiving districts.

Procedures and next steps
All of the above articles were accepted at the first session for placement on the March ballot; most votes were recorded as “in favor” with the moderator declaring the article passed, though explicit hand-count tallies for these individual articles were not given on the record during the session (the transcript records explicit tallies only for the Article 1 amendment). Voters will make the final decision on each item on March 11.

Ending
District officials reminded voters to cast ballots on March 11 at the Keene Recreation Center and noted absentee ballots are available at the Central Office on Maple Avenue.