Referendum Petition Signatures top 2,000

On Tuesday morning we will present over 2,000 signatures to the Town Clerk supporting our referendum petition to provide our schools with an increase of $765,301. The Clerk will formally accept the signature pages on behalf of the Town and the Canvassers Office will have two weeks to certify 1,294 of these signatures (the required minimum). Once certified, the Clerk shall call an all-day election on a Tuesday no less than 35 days or more than 45 days from certification. This would mean the earliest scheduled election would be September 28th or more probable October 4th.

Thanks goes to all the canvassers who assisted at the successful Sign & Drive and Transfer Station, walked neighborhoods, and brought petitions to friends and family. We had over forty volunteers who I simply can't thank enough! I want to personnally thank John McDaid, Jim Seveney, Dennis Canario, and Len Katzman for their leadership and support during the campaign. These gentlemen deserve a great deal of credit for our success. And, of course, thank you to everyone who took time out to sign!

In the weeks ahead you will hear a positive campaign about the value our system delivers daily for our kids and the Portsmouth community. We will speak of the investment in core educational services and what that means for the average taxpayer. We listened to all residents these past 10 days and we will build an information campaign to best educate the voters by October 4th.