EPPING — Selectman Karen Falcone plans to ask her board to seek a legal opinion from the town’s attorney Monday after criticizing the school board for using $200,000 from a school surplus to purchase everything from iPads to new phones without asking voters first.

“They went on a spend-athon on things that were not budgeted or approved by the people,” said Falcone, the board’s chairman.

Falcone and Selectman Dianne Gilbert launched an attack on the school board in June after learning that the school board was considering spending $360,000 of the nearly $550,000 left over in the school district’s budget at the end of the school year.

After considering potential projects that weren’t included in the budget, the school board approved $201,925 to be spent on building improvements and other items.

The biggest expenses were $47,000 for new books, $37,000 to install phones in classrooms at the elementary school for the first time, and $28,000 to buy iPads.

Other spending included $19,000 to fix classroom floors in the elementary school, $11,000 to replace old carpeting that had created air quality concerns in the high school library, and $9,000 to repair the leaky entrance roof and sidewalk at the elementary school.

Falcone insisted that the projects weren’t emergencies and could have waited until voters had a chance to approve them through warrant articles in March, but school officials have defended the spending.

Martha Williamson, the school district’s business administrator, said the district ended up with more left over because of unexpected revenue resulting largely from funding changes made by the state after the school set its budget and less money spent on heating fuel due to a warmer winter.

Williamson said it’s not uncommon for the district to use some of that leftover money at year’s end.

“The school district is following the practice it’s always followed and it’s a practice that’s not at all unusual for school districts in the whole state,” Williamson said.

But Falcone argues the money should have been given back to lower the tax rate and that if the school district wanted to make the purchases they should be placed on warrant articles for voters to consider in March.

“If you want to buy iPads for the children, put it on a warrant article and let the people decide. I’m not anti-education. I’m in favor of education, but I’m anti-waste. This is no time, in this economy, to be frivolous,” Falcone said.

Falcone wants the town’s attorney to review the legalities of the school’s surplus spending, but she’s unlikely to get the full support of her board.

Selectman James McGeough has opposed attempts by selectmen this summer to interfere with the school board’s budget decisions, saying he’s afraid it will start a “war” between the two boards and waste money on legal fees.

David Mylott, school board chairman, has also expressed concern about selectmen seeking legal advice on school spending.

In an effort to improve relations and understanding of budgeting decisions, Williamson said selectmen and the school board are now meeting jointly with the budget committee to discuss budgets.

“I just hope we can work together on these committees and we can come to an agreement that makes everyone have a little more trust and feel like we’re working as a team,” she said.

- - - - - - - -

Jason Schreiber may be reached at jschreiber@newstote.com.