By GORDON D. KING
Staff Writer

FRANKLIN — City councilors know a charter school may not be the cure-all for the Franklin High School dropout rate, but they voted to adopt provisions of a state law which will allow proposals to be brought to them for approval.

The lone hold-out was Councilor Dennis Reed, who said he would abstain because he is waiting to hear what the school board appointed Task Force has learned from its study of the 16 percent dropout rate.

The idea for a charter school was put forth by School Board member Bill Grimm, who believes it is an alternative which should be looked at. Adopting the provisions of House Bill 194-B does not commit the council to a charter school as no one has come forward with any proposal, council members said.

Council members supporting the measure said they were concerned that if these provisions were not approved, the city could be forced into having a charter school.

House Bill 298, which is headed to the governor’s office to be signed, eliminates local approval of a charter school.

"It creates a second path for a charter school proposal. It would go directly to the state Board of Education for approval," said Sue Hollins of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, a strong supporter of charter schools.

Hollins said provisions of HB 298 allow the state board to approve two charter schools a year. The current law calls for such schools to pay 80 percent of the per student cost to the charter school.

Hollins said she is not familiar with the funding mechanism in HB 298 but believes it is less than the 80 percent.

"There are too many ifs at this point," Reed said, in explaining why he would abstain.

Councilor Clayton Gassett said he is concerned about HB 298 and what it would mean to Franklin.

"HB 298 scares the hell out of me. The Legislature can’t solve the education funding problem we presently have and now they are sticking their nose into it again," Gassett said.

Councilor Pauline Colby said she, too, would like to know more about the funding.

"This year is not a good year (for a charter school). It may not be a good year next year either. It may be three years," Colby said.

Colby also said parents will have to become involved.

"Franklin has a lot of families with two people working. I don’t see how they can become involved," Colby added.

Councilor David Palfrey said his children are receiving a good education in the city’s schools.

"These are different ideas but I cannot make a decision of a charter school until I see the proposal," Palfrey said.

Councilor Glen Feener said he also supported the idea of letting people go through the process to bring forth a proposal.

"The impact on the budget will play an important factor," Feener said.

Councilors Palfrey, Colby, Gassett, Michael Downing, Ken Merrifield and Doug Boyd voted to accept the state law provision which allows proposals to come to them for approval. Reed abstained. Councilor James Mason was absent.

School Board Chairman Kathy Fuller urged council members to join her in asking Gov. Jeanne Shaheen to veto HB 298 as it takes local control away from school districts. No decision was made on this, however.