It's been quiet here. There hasn't been a whole lot that's caught my interest the past few weeks and even when there has been something, I've been busy keeping my boys busy.
Town Council meetings have been a little heated lately (proposed rezoning of the M2 district has been a hot topic), the Charter Commission has been plodding along and the School Board has been on break for the month of July.
But the issue that has my attention now is the proposed tuition agreement between Newmarket and ORSD. As stated in the School District newsletter:
Superintendents Jim Hayes and Jim Morse will jointly make presentations to the Oyster River Cooperative School Board on Wednesday, August 14, and to the Newmarket School Board on Thursday, August 15. These meetings are the regularly scheduled Board meetings for both Boards.
Whether or not you support the idea of a tuition agreement, these are the facts we have all been waiting a long time for. The meeting will be August 15th at 7:00pm.
Just read this article on Seacoastonline about the consequences of the "graying" of New Hampshire. Newmarket is no stranger to many of these concerns.
Here's an excerpt:
"They suggest that the growing older population will reshape how the state of New Hampshire pays for health care, shifting much of the burden from private to public sources. It will put additional financial pressure on the state budget and increase expenses for state employee and retiree pensions and health care," Johnson wrote recently in a study he published on the demographic trends in the state in the 21st century.
The report also states that local governments will face challenges in providing social and health-care services to a growing population of seniors, and they will need to consider implications for education of granting tax exemptions to seniors, when seniors exceed the school-age population. The report also voices concerns about the state's ability to retain and recruit a high-quality health-care labor force, when both the health-care work force and the population that needs its services are aging rapidly.
Johnson and Francese agree the state needs to find ways to repopulate the state with families of young adults and their children.
Shouldn't Newmarket focus on bringing and keeping families in Town?
