Oxbow Unified Union School District Board

ABOUT THE BOARD

Introduction

The Oxbow Unified Union School District Board consists of elected board members from the towns of Bradford and Newbury, who are responsible for ensuring an education for all students in the community and overseeing the operation of Bradford Elementary School, Newbury Elementary School, Oxbow High School and River Bend Career & Technical Center.

Board meetings take place the second Wednesday of the month at 5:30pm, at OHS, unless otherwise notified.

Board meetings are open to the public. Community attendance and participation are always welcome!

Email contact for the OUUSD Board: ouusdboard@oesu.org

FY27 Budget Passed!

The FY27 Budget was approved and amended (+$300,000) by voters (205-141). Thank you for your support!

2026 2nd Meeting Warning

MEETING WARNING

2026 Annual Report

2026 ANNUAL REPORT

What Are the Changes?

Proposed FY27 Budget Documents

1st Budget Vote Information:

FAQ's

What Has the Budget Process Been? What Changes Were Made Along the Way?

The OUUSD Board and Administrators have worked through multiple drafts of the FY27 proposed budget to provide a a budget that meets the needs of all students and is also fiscally responsible for taxpayers.

The process can be tracked by reviewing board meeting minutes from this year and the Budget Process Summary below.

FY27 Budget Process Summary

Community feedback was obtained on the FY27 Budget Survey. Administration and the OUUSD Board have worked to reduce the budget in the most recent proposal, to meet the needs of students while keeping the feedback from the community in mind as well.

What Were the Results of The Budget Survey?

What is Long Term Weighted Average Daily Membership (LTWADM) & Why Is It So Important?

Long Term Weighted Average Daily Membership (LTWADM) is how we get funding from the state for each student. We send our tax dollars to the state and the money comes back based on the LTWADM calculation.

Last year the state calculated our 613.65 ADM students as 1,236.76 LTWADM. This year, our 607.128 ADM students are calculated as 1,157.26 LTWADM.

The change from last year to this year is a reduction of -6.527 ADM. The state calculation of -79.5 LTWADM is impacting our per pupil calculation. When you take the budget and divide it by less students, the cost per student is higher.

This is why it is SO important for student families to complete the Household Income Forms that the school sends to families each year.

Families can complete the form for next year now!

What Can We Do to Make Changes to Our School Structure?

Many people ask what we can do to change our school structure. The OUUSD Articles of Agreement (an agreement created during the creation of the school district) requires the following steps be taken:

B. Restructuring of Grade Configurations

i. For purposes of these Articles, the words “restructuring of grade configurations,” “restructuring,” and any grammatical variations mean eliminating all classrooms for any grade or grades, prekindergarten through grade 12, operated at one or more schools and requiring children in the grade or grades to attend classrooms located in a different school.

ii. Board shall not restructure the grade configuration of any school building. The grade configuration of any District school as may be restructured only as follows:

a) The Board shall notice and hold at least on District wide public meeting to describe and discuss the restructuring proposal.

b) At a subsequent Annual or Special Meeting of the District duly warned for that purpose, the qualified voters of the District shall vote whether to approve the proposed restructuring. An affirmative vote of 60% of the voters voting in each Town is required to approve the restructuring. This provision shall not limit the authority of the Unified Union District Board to “temporarily” restructure or reconfigure a grade or grades at a school or schools for a limited duration of time because the school, or a portion thereof, is uninhabitable due to major structural damage or condition, loss of heat, water, or similar physical circumstance. Voter Approved May 12, 2022.

Article 4 – Closure of School Buildings

A. No school building conveyed to the OUUSD shall be closed prior to academic year 2024-

2025.

B. Subsequent Academic Years

The OUUSD shall not close any school building or cease using the building to provide direct

instruction in at least one grade, prekindergarten through grade 12, unless each of the following

occurs:

1. The OUUSD shall study the impact of school closure on the quality of student experiences, particularly regarding travel time and costs, student extracurricular activity participation, impacts on the most vulnerable students, impacts on food program participation, and broader community impacts. At least three public forums in each effected community shall be held to receive community input on the proposed closure. From the study, a report will be compiled with impact assessments, and may include proposals to mitigate any possible negative effects;

2. After consideration of the study described in subsection B1 above, closure of the school is approved by affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members of the OUUSD Board;

3. At a subsequent Annual or Special Meeting of the District, the qualified voters of the OUUSD voting at that meeting approve closure of the school by 60%. Following a positive vote of the district, a vote by Australian Ballot will be held in the town where the school closure is proposed; 60% of the participating voters need to approve the article to close the school. This provision shall not limit the authority of the Board to “temporarily” close a school for a limited duration of time because the school is uninhabitable do to major structural damage or condition, loss of heat, water, or similar physical circumstance. Voter Approved November 24, 2020

Across the State all 259 towns and gores maintain data on each of the property values in the jurisdiction. Each town determines assessed values and sets the timing of reappraisals. It is not practical or possible for towns to reappraise each year, therefore there is a divergence between the assessed value and the fair market value.The fair market value is an estimate of the potential sale price of the property on the current real estate market.
The common level of appraisal (CLA) adjusts the locally assessed property values to the estimated fair market value. The CLA ensures that each town is treated equally and uniformly – regardless of when they last appraised. The CLA is unique in each town and is calculated annually by the Department of Taxes.