Waterville Valley School Board Addresses Open Enrollment, Budget, and School Initiatives

Waterville Valley, NH – The Waterville Valley School Board convened on January 15, 2026, to discuss a range of topics including upcoming joint meetings, school program updates, and significant financial and policy matters related to student enrollment and employee benefits.

The Board began by approving the minutes from its previous meeting. A joint meeting with the Select Board, initially proposed for February 4th at 2:00 PM, was discussed for rescheduling due to availability conflicts. The Board sought to hold this meeting before their respective budget hearings to align on proposals and address an ongoing insurance issue related to the Rey Center. A potential new date of Monday, January 26th, in the late afternoon (3-5 PM) was suggested, with a Board member agreeing to check availability with other Select Board members and provide an update by the end of the week (link).

The School Board also provided updates on various school initiatives:

• Vision and Mission Statement: A team has been working on the school’s vision and mission statement, with a meeting postponed due to illness, now rescheduled (link).
• Literacy Development: A literacy expert, who has been working with the SAU (School Administrative Unit) all year on the science of reading, will now serve as a coach for Waterville Valley and four other schools, visiting twice a month to support teachers with best practices (link).
• Robotics Competition: Six students are preparing to compete in the Plymouth elementary robotics competition on Saturday, January 31st. The school is still seeking judges for the event, which will host 27 teams (link).
• Ski Team: Three Waterville Valley students will participate in the SAU’s new ski team, practicing at the mountain for three weeks starting next week, followed by three races at other locations (link).

Regarding tuition students, it was reported that six out of eight non-resident tuition students have parents employed full-time in Waterville Valley, indicating a strong connection to the community (link).

A discussion was held regarding website access for recorded meetings. A town staff member confirmed that while the town’s website does not list school meetings separately, it links to the school’s homepage, which in turn links to its recorded meetings. The school’s meeting recordings are hosted on a separate page, not YouTube, which was noted as a cleaner presentation (link).

A significant portion of the meeting focused on new state legislation concerning open enrollment for schools. This legislation allows districts to designate themselves as “open enrollment” schools, requiring a warrant article approved by the town. This designation involves setting a percentage of students allowed to leave the district and a percentage of students the district is willing to accept. Many districts are not adopting open enrollment this year, but some are considering it as a way to generate revenue due to budget shortfalls (link).

The Board discussed the financial risk if Waterville Valley does not adopt open enrollment status with a 0% “out” and a small percentage “in.” If a student were to leave for an open enrollment district, Waterville Valley could be responsible for paying 80% of its per-pupil cost, which is approximately $32,000 per student. To protect against this, the Board is considering proposing a warrant article for open enrollment with 0% of students allowed to leave and a small percentage (e.g., 1-2%) of students allowed to enter, primarily for protective measures rather than actively seeking new students (link). This warrant article would be presented to the town for a vote.

A resident expressed concern about the increasing percentage of non-resident tuition students (currently 25% of the school’s 32 students) and its potential impact on the school’s brand and community culture, despite acknowledging the financial benefits and the fact that many tuition students have parents working locally (link). The Board reiterated that the proposed open enrollment warrant article is primarily a protective measure against financial penalties for students leaving the district, rather than an active recruitment strategy.

In other financial matters, the Board approved a motion to increase the health insurance buy-back for non-union employees from $4,000 to $5,000 (link).

The next School Board meeting is scheduled for February 9th at 5:30 PM, immediately followed by a budget hearing.