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THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

___________________________

State Board of Education

No. 2015-0030

APPEAL OF DUNBARTON SCHOOL DISTRICT

(New Hampshire State Board of Education)

Argued: September 24, 2015

Opinion Issued: May 13, 2016

Sulloway & Hollis, P.L.L.C., of Concord (Edward M. Kaplan and Sarah S. 

Murdough on the brief, and Mr. Kaplan orally), for Goffstown School District.

Devine, Millimet & Branch, Professional Association, of Manchester 

(Daniel E. Will and Joshua M. Wyatt on the brief, and Mr. Will orally), for 

Dunbarton School District.

Joseph A. Foster, attorney general (Brian W. Buonamano, assistant 

attorney general, by brief), for New Hampshire State Board of Education, as 

amicus curiae.

DALIANIS, C.J. The Dunbarton School District (Dunbarton) appeals a 

decision of the New Hampshire State Board of Education (Board) which 

determined that Dunbarton is liable to the Goffstown School District 

(Goffstown) for its proportional share of Goffstown’s obligation on a 20-year 
2

construction bond approved in 2001 for renovations to the Goffstown High 

School. We reverse.

I. Background

The pertinent facts follow. Enacted in 1963, RSA chapter 195-A allows 

the establishment of Authorized Regional Enrollment Area (AREA) schools. See

Laws 1963, ch. 277. The purpose of the statute is “to increase educational 

opportunities within the state by encouraging the establishment of area 

schools in the receiving districts which will serve the receiving district and the 

sending districts throughout a natural social and economic region . . . to 

permit efficient use of such area school facilities and to provide improved 

instruction.” RSA 195-A:2, I (2008). The statute sets forth detailed procedures 

for establishing an AREA plan, see RSA 195-A:3 (Supp. 2015), and for the 

periodic review of AREA plans and withdrawal of districts from the AREA, see 

RSA 195-A:14 (2008).

Under the statute, an “‘[a]rea school’” is defined as “an authorized 

regional enrollment area school, which may be elementary or secondary, and 

which when approved . . . shall be the assigned school for all the resident 

elementary or secondary pupils of the school districts or portions thereof within 

the region which it is established to serve.” RSA 195-A:1, IV (2008). A 

“‘[s]ending district’” is defined as “any school district or portion thereof which 

sends its resident pupils to an area school located in a receiving district, paying 

tuition therefor to the receiving district.” RSA 195-A:1, V (2008). A “‘[r]eceiving 

district’” is defined as “a school district in which an area school is located.” 

RSA 195-A:1, VI (2008).

An AREA plan must include, among other things, a formula for the 

calculation of tuition. RSA 195-A:3, V(d) (Supp. 2015). “‘Tuition’” is defined as 

“the sum of money which each sending district is obligated to pay to the 

receiving district to defray the cost of education” and “may include an annual 

rental charge per pupil.” RSA 195-A:1, IX (2008). “‘Annual rental charge per 

pupil’” is defined as “that additional payment included in tuition . . . which 

represents a fair charge for building occupancy. It may also include a fair 

charge for any debt service and reduction of principal, which may become due 

between date of bond issue and date of building occupancy.” RSA 195-A:1, X

(2008).

In 1971, Goffstown, Dunbarton, and the New Boston School District 

entered into a written AREA plan pursuant to which Goffstown was designated 

the receiving school district and Dunbarton and New Boston were designated 

the sending school districts. The plan established an annual tuition rate that 

included a rental charge of two percent. At the time the parties entered into 

this AREA plan, the statute did not require that an AREA plan contain a term 

of duration. See Laws 1969; 347:2.
3

In 1998, the Goffstown Building Needs Study Committee recommended a 

$10 million plan for renovations and additions to the Goffstown High School 

and the development of plans for an additional elementary school. The 

Goffstown school board decided to delay putting the question to public vote for 

one year. In 1999, a similar renovation plan was recommended by the 

committee but it was defeated in March 2000. Thereafter, a High School 

Building Study Committee was formed and, subsequently, it proposed an 

$11,995,000 plan to renovate Goffstown High School.

In November 2000, a written memorandum was sent on behalf of the 

Goffstown School Board to the school boards of Dunbarton and New Boston, 

notifying them that “the Goffstown School District will be proposing a building 

project at the March 2001 School District Meeting. The total cost of the project 

is $11,995,000. The Board is proposing a 20-year bond. The project 

encompasses renovations and additions to the Goffstown AREA High School.” 

In March 2001, Goffstown voters authorized the Goffstown School District to 

issue bonds to raise $11,995,000 for the “Renovation/Addition Project” for the 

Goffstown AREA High School. See RSA 195-A:7 (2008) (“[T]he construction of 

additions or alterations to existing buildings, . . . shall be the responsibility of 

the receiving district . . . . A receiving district may borrow money for such 

purposes.”).

In 1999, the legislature amended RSA chapter 195-A to require that 

AREA plans have a minimum term of 10 years “unless otherwise provided by 

mutual agreement of the school districts.” Laws 1999, 15:1. Accordingly, in 

January 2004, Goffstown, Dunbarton, and New Boston agreed to a new written 

AREA plan to replace the 1971 plan. The 2004 AREA plan established a term 

of 10 years, with July 1, 2004 as the start date. Among other things, the plan 

established an annual tuition rate that included a rental charge of two and 

one-half percent effective July 1, 2005, to be recalculated based upon 

appraisals of the Goffstown middle school and high school buildings 

“performed every five years commencing in 2008.” The plan provided that “[o]n 

the effective date of this Agreement, any former AREA agreements between 

Goffstown, New Boston and Dunbarton shall become void.” In April 2004, the 

Board certified that the plan was “lawfully adopted.”

Before the 2014 expiration of the parties’ AREA plan, an AREA planning 

review board, comprised of representatives from each of the three participating 

school districts, reviewed the 2004 plan and discussed possible amendments to 

be included in a new plan. See RSA 195-A:14, I. The review board 

subsequently submitted a proposed AREA plan that, with the Board’s approval, 

would be voted upon in all three districts at the 2013 annual school district 

meetings. In January 2013, the Board approved the amended AREA plan. At 

the same time, the Board approved a plan to form a new AREA school 

designating Bow as the receiving district and Dunbarton as the sending 

district. Dunbarton and Bow voters approved the Dunbarton/Bow AREA plan, 
4

and Dunbarton voters rejected the amended Goffstown/Dunbarton/New 

Boston AREA plan.

In January 2014, Goffstown requested a hearing before the Board to 

determine Dunbarton’s remaining obligation on the 2001 bond. At a prehearing conference, the parties agreed to submit memoranda on the legal issue 

of whether Dunbarton “is or is not responsible for capital costs after the 

expiration of the AREA Agreement.” After reviewing the parties’ written 

submissions, the hearing officer determined that, upon receiving notice from 

Goffstown in 2001 that it was going to renovate and make additions to the high 

school and was proposing a 20-year bond to finance the project, Dunbarton 

was required, pursuant to RSA 195-A:14, VI, to initiate a withdrawal study four 

months before the vote or it would remain obligated on the bond.

The hearing officer reasoned that, “[b]y initiating the withdrawal study, 

Dunbarton would have put Goffstown on notice prior to the bond as to the 

potential additional financial risk on the bond without Dunbarton remaining 

part of the AREA.” Thus, although the 2004 AREA plan expired June 30, 

2014, “Dunbarton was clearly on notice back in 2001 that there was a twenty 

(20) year bond, and had the opportunity to initiate a withdrawal study at that 

point in time so that Goffstown would be on notice of the possible financial 

ramifications of Dunbarton withdrawing from the AREA.” Accordingly, the 

hearing officer recommended that the Board find that Dunbarton remains 

financially obligated with respect to the high school construction bond. The 

Board voted to accept the hearing officer’s report and adopted his 

recommendation. Dunbarton’s request for reconsideration was denied, and 

this appeal followed.

II. Standard of Review

RSA chapter 541 governs our review of Board decisions. See RSA 

21-N:11, III (2012). Under RSA 541:13, a party seeking to set aside a decision 

of the Board has the burden of demonstrating that the decision “is clearly 

unreasonable or unlawful.” RSA 541:13 (2007). We will not disturb the 

Board’s decision, except for errors of law, unless we are satisfied, by a clear 

preponderance of the evidence before us, that it is “unjust or unreasonable.” 

Id. The Board’s findings of fact are presumed prima facie lawful and 

reasonable. Id. We review the Board’s rulings on issues of law de novo. See

Appeal of Hillsborough County Nursing Home, 166 N.H. 731, 733 (2014).

To resolve the issues before us, we must engage in statutory 

interpretation. The interpretation of a statute is a question of law, which we 

review de novo. Favazza v. Braley, 160 N.H. 349, 351 (2010). In matters of 

statutory interpretation, we are the final arbiters of the legislature’s intent as 

expressed in the words of the statute considered as a whole. Id. In construing 

its meaning, we first examine the language found in the statute, and when
5

possible, we ascribe the plain and ordinary meanings to the words used. Id.

We interpret legislative intent from the statute as written and will not consider 

what the legislature might have said or add language that the legislature did 

not see fit to include. Strike Four v. Nissan N. Am., 164 N.H. 729, 735 (2013). 

We interpret statutory provisions in the context of the overall statutory scheme. 

Favazza, 160 N.H. at 351. Absent an ambiguity, we will not look beyond the 

language of the statute to discern legislative intent. See New Hampshire Health 

Care Assoc. v. Governor, 161 N.H. 378, 385 (2011).

III. RSA Chapter 195-A

The parties agree that three statutory provisions are dispositive of the 

issues raised on appeal: RSA 195-A:14, V and VI, and RSA 195-A:3, XI. 

Paragraph XI of RSA 195-A:3 is part of the procedure for establishing an AREA 

school. Under that procedure, a written AREA plan must be prepared and 

must include, among other things, “[t]he term of the agreement, which shall be 

for a minimum of 10 years unless otherwise provided by mutual agreement of 

the school districts consistent with the provisions of RSA 195-A:3, XI.” RSA 

195-A:3, V(n). Paragraph XI, in turn, provides that

[a]n area plan . . . shall be valid for a minimum of 10 years unless 

otherwise provided by mutual agreement of the school districts. 

The area plan may be renegotiated at the request of a sending or 

receiving district or extended for additional 10-year periods upon a 

mutual vote of each sending and receiving school district legislative 

body 2 years prior to the expiration of the area plan.

RSA 195-A:3, XI.

Paragraphs V and VI of RSA 195-A:14 concern the “Review of Area Plan 

and Withdrawal of Districts.” RSA 195-A:14 (bolding omitted). Pursuant to 

RSA 195-A:14, “[a]fter the third anniversary of the date of operating 

responsibility,” either a sending or receiving district “may vote to undertake a 

study of the feasibility and suitability of a withdrawal from the area.” RSA 

195-A:14, III. A study committee must be formed and, within 180 days, submit 

a report to the Board “that withdrawal is not feasible or suitable or a report 

that includes a withdrawal plan prepared in accordance with paragraph IV.” 

Id. A plan for the withdrawal of a district from an AREA must include, among 

other things, “[t]he liability of the withdrawing district for its share of any 

outstanding indebtedness of the area in accordance with paragraph V.” RSA 

195-A:14, IV(c). Paragraph V, in turn, provides that “[e]ach withdrawing 

sending district shall remain liable to the area, or to the receiving district in the 

case of dissolution of the area, for a rental charge, as determined by the area 

agreement, for the length of any outstanding bond issue.” RSA 195-A:14, V.
6

Under paragraph VI of RSA 195-A:14, four months before a vote on a

bond issue for construction of new facilities or additions to an AREA school, a 

receiving district must notify a sending district of such pending vote, and the 

sending district may thereafter “initiate a withdrawal study.” RSA 195-A:14, 

VI. If the sending district does so and the voters in the sending district approve

the withdrawal plan, “the sending district shall not be further obligated to any 

bonded indebtedness as a result of such bond issue.” Id.

IV. Appellate Arguments

Dunbarton argues that RSA chapter 195-A “envisions two possible 

endings to an area relationship: (1) withdrawal by one party; and (2) expiration 

of the area agreement.” It contends that “[e]ach method of termination is 

distinct and creates different consequences for the contracting parties.” 

According to Dunbarton, withdrawal “occurs during the term of an area plan,” 

and because of “the potential consequences to students of termination midstream in the term of an area plan, the statute lays out a detailed and 

deliberate process and requires Board input before withdrawal or dissolution 

may occur.” By contrast, “[e]xpiration . . . occurs simply because an area plan 

reaches its term.” That is what occurred with respect to the 2004 plan, “and 

the parties neither contracted for, nor does the statute impose, any posttermination obligations upon either party.” Thus, Dunbarton argues, “it is only 

where an area relationship terminates . . . before the end of its term through 

‘withdrawal’ that the statute imposes liability for payments on outstanding 

bond issues” pursuant to RSA 195-A:14, V. Consequently, “[t]he Board 

unlawfully and unreasonably categorized Dunbarton as a ‘withdrawing’ 

sending district because Dunbarton never withdrew; instead, the 2004 

Contract expired by its terms and with it, any further obligation for Dunbarton 

to pay Goffstown.”

Goffstown argues that the Board “properly gave effect to the plain 

language of RSA 195-A:14, VI, which sets forth the clear statutory duty of a 

sending district to initiate a withdrawal study prior to a receiving district’s vote 

on a bond if the sending district wishes to avoid its financial obligation for the 

term of the bond.” Goffstown asserts that the statutory obligation imposed 

under RSA 195-A:14, VI “was not erased by the Amended Area Plan entered 

into in 2004 or the expiration of that plan in 2014.” According to Goffstown, 

not only does Dunbarton’s analysis render RSA 195-A:14, VI “meaningless,” it 

also “would lead to the absurd result that a receiving district could never incur 

new bond indebtedness during the term of an AREA plan with the assurance 

that a sending district would remain obligated for the full term of the bond.” 

Goffstown argues that, under Dunbarton’s analysis, “[a] sending district could 

remain silent and not initiate withdrawal, thereby leaving the false impression 

that it remained committed to the bond issue, yet simply walk away at the end 

of the term of the plan, leaving the receiving district the unanticipated burden 

of the remainder of the entire bond obligation.”
7

After briefing and oral argument, we invited the attorney general (State) 

to submit a brief as amicus curiae on behalf of the Board. The State asserts 

that “[t]he Board’s interpretation [of RSA 195-A:14] is consistent with the 

legislature’s intent that a receiving district be protected relative to its 

investments in an area school in the event of an area dissolution.” The State 

argues that, read together, RSA 195-A:14, V and VI require a sending district to 

remain liable for any outstanding bond issue following the expiration of an 

AREA agreement. According to the State, these two statutory provisions 

“together protect the relative interests of receiving districts and sending 

districts, respectively, when capital investments are made in area schools.” 

Paragraph VI “protects a sending district by allowing it to withdraw from an 

area if it does not wish to become liable on a bond issue being considered by 

the receiving district.” Paragraph V “protects a receiving district from becoming 

solely liable on an investment made in an area school established to serve 

pupils from both the sending district and receiving district.” Thus, the State 

argues that the phrase “‘withdrawing sending district’” should be interpreted to 

include both school districts that withdraw from an AREA before the AREA

plan terminates, and those that choose not to extend an AREA plan and 

instead allow it to expire. The expiration of an AREA plan, the State contends, 

causes the AREA to dissolve, which, in turn, causes all of the districts to 

“withdraw” from what was the AREA.

V. Analysis

We agree with Dunbarton’s interpretation of RSA 195-A:14. The statute

sets forth two scenarios under which a sending school district may withdraw 

from an AREA plan.

First, if, after three years of operation, a school district votes “to 

undertake a study of the feasibility and suitability of a withdrawal from the 

area,” a study committee submits a report to the Board that includes a 

“withdrawal plan,” the Board concludes that the plan meets the statutory 

requirements, and the withdrawing district votes in favor of the withdrawal 

plan, such vote “shall be conclusive evidence of the withdrawal of the district.” 

RSA 195-A:14, III, VII. Under this circumstance, the withdrawal plan must 

include “[t]he liability of the withdrawing district for its share of any 

outstanding indebtedness of the area,” including “a rental charge, as 

determined by the area agreement, for the length of any outstanding bond 

issue.” RSA 195-A:14, IV, V.

Second, if a sending district receives notice of a pending vote in the 

receiving district on a proposed bond issue for the construction of new facilities 

or additions to an AREA school, and the sending district initiates a withdrawal 

study in accordance with the statutory requirements before the vote in the 

receiving district, the sending district may withdraw if the voters in the sending 

district approve the withdrawal plan. See RSA 195-A:14, VI. Under this 
8

circumstance, the sending district “shall not be further obligated to any bonded 

indebtedness as a result of such bond issue.” Id.

In contrast to those two scenarios, here, the parties’ AREA plan expired 

by its express term. Although the statute requires that AREA plans contain a 

term, see RSA 195-A:3, V(n), the statute does not impose any continuing 

obligations upon a sending district after the expiration of an AREA plan. See

RSA 195-A:3, XI. Thus, the Board’s determination that Dunbarton was a 

“withdrawing sending district” when the parties’ AREA plan expired in 2014 is 

not supported by a plain reading of the statute. We will not consider what the 

legislature might have said or add language to a statute that the legislature did 

not see fit to include. See Strike Four, 164 N.H. at 735. The State argues that 

the expiration of the AREA plan caused the “dissolution” of the AREA and, 

thus, the “withdrawal” of all of the districts from the AREA. Assuming without 

deciding that “dissolution” is intended to mean the same thing as “withdrawal” 

under the statute, whether the Goffstown/Dunbarton/New Boston AREA 

dissolved is not a determination that can be made upon this record.

Our conclusion is also supported by the principle of statutory 

construction that “the expression of one thing in a statute implies the 

exclusion of another.” State v. Etienne, 163 N.H. 57, 73 (2011). The force of 

this principle “is strengthened where a thing is provided in one part of the 

statute and omitted in another.” 2A N. Singer & J.D. Singer, Statutes and 

Statutory Construction, § 47.23, at 417 (7th ed. 2007). But for the limited 

exception provided for sending districts in RSA 195-A:14, VI, the statute 

specifically provides that a sending district withdrawing from an AREA plan 

during the term of the plan remains obligated to pay a rental charge for the 

length of any outstanding bond issue. See RSA 195-A:14, V. Had the 

legislature intended to impose the same obligation upon the expiration of an 

AREA plan, it would have done so expressly.

Goffstown argues that “Dunbarton focuses on the wrong timeframe” and 

ignores the “key finding” of the hearing officer that “focused on the undisputed 

notice to Dunbarton of the Bond prior to the vote on the Bond in 2001, and 

Dunbarton’s failure to initiate a withdrawal study prior to the vote.” Given that 

the 1971 AREA plan did not contain a term of duration, Goffstown’s argument 

might be persuasive had the parties not entered into a new AREA plan in 2004. 

The 2004 plan between the parties, however, expressly states, in a section 

titled “Outdated AREA Agreements,” that “[o]n the effective date of this 

Agreement, any former AREA agreements between Goffstown, New Boston and 

Dunbarton shall become void.” (Underlining omitted.) We agree with 

Dunbarton that “[u]nlike withdrawal, the statute places no limitations or 

conditions upon expiration, but, instead, leaves it to the parties to contract for 

such contingencies.”
9

We conclude that pursuant to the plain language of the statute, 

Dunbarton was not a “withdrawing sending district” when the AREA plan 

between the parties expired in 2014, and, accordingly, we hold that the Board 

erred as a matter of law when it found that Dunbarton remains financially 

liable to Goffstown for its proportional share of the 2001 Goffstown High School 

construction bond.

Reversed.

HICKS, CONBOY, and BASSETT, JJ., concurred; LYNN, J., dissented.

LYNN, J., dissenting. Although I agree that the majority’s construction of 

the pertinent provisions of RSA chapter 195-A is a reasonable one, I am not 

persuaded that its construction is consistent with how the legislature really 

intended the pertinent provisions to operate. Therefore, I respectfully dissent.

It is a fundamental principle of statutory construction that we “do not 

construe statutes in isolation; instead, we attempt to do so in harmony with 

the overall statutory scheme.” Holt v. Keer, 167 N.H. 232, 241 (2015)

(quotation omitted). “When interpreting two statutes that deal with a similar 

subject matter, we construe them so that they do not contradict each other, 

and so that they will lead to reasonable results and effectuate the legislative 

purpose of the statutes.” Id. (quotation omitted). We presume that the 

legislature would not pass an act that would lead to an absurd or illogical 

result. See Simpson v. Young, 153 N.H. 471, 475 (2006).

RSA 195-A:14, V imposes upon a sending school district that withdraws 

during the term of an AREA plan a rental charge for the length of any 

outstanding school construction bond undertaken by the receiving school 

district. See RSA 195-A:14, V (2008) (a withdrawing sending district shall 

remain liable for a rental charge, as determined by the AREA agreement, for 

the length of any outstanding bond issue); IV(c) (2008) (a withdrawal plan shall 

include the liability of the withdrawing district for its share of any outstanding 

indebtedness in accordance with paragraph V). The statute creates an 

exception to the requirements of paragraph V, however, by allowing a sending 

district, upon receiving notice from the receiving district of a pending vote on a 

school construction bond, to withdraw from the AREA and, thereby, avoid 

incurring any obligation on that bond. See RSA 195-A:14, VI (2008) (“the 

sending district shall not be further obligated to any bonded indebtedness” if 

the voters in the sending district approve the withdrawal plan).

The majority accepts Dunbarton’s argument that because it terminated 

its relationship with the AREA plan as a result of the expiration of the plan, it 

is not a “withdrawing sending district” within the meaning of RSA 195-A:14, V, 

and thus is not liable under that section of the statute “for a rental charge . . . 

for the length of any outstanding bond issue.” RSA 195-A:14, V. Dunbarton 
10

concedes, however, that, even under this construction of the statute, it was 

liable to Goffstown for the “annual rental charge” specified in the AREA plan for 

the period of time during which the plan was in effect, that is, the period before 

the 2014 expiration of the agreement. See RSA 195-A:1, IX, X (2008) (defining 

the terms “tuition” and “annual rental charge per pupil,” respectively, for 

purposes of RSA chapter 195-A). Thus, if Dunbarton’s construction of the 

statute is correct, one has to assume that the legislature contemplated that, if, 

in response to notification from a receiving school district of its intention to 

incur bonded indebtedness that extends beyond the expiration of the existing 

AREA plan, a sending school district takes no action, i.e., does not initiate a 

withdrawal study pursuant to RSA 195-A:14, VI, the receiving district will be 

deemed to have accepted the risk that, at the expiration of the term of the plan, 

the receiving district will bear the entire cost of the bonded indebtedness for 

the period after the agreement expires. But if the legislature was willing to 

impose this risk upon receiving school districts, it is hard to imagine what 

purpose is served by imposing upon a sending district liability for the full term 

of the bond if the sending district withdraws before the term of the plan expires 

(although not in accordance with RSA 195-A:14, VI).

In short, no reason is apparent as to why the sending district’s 

withdrawal before the expiration of the plan should extend its liability beyond

the expiration of the plan. Because such a withdrawal would not expose a 

receiving district to any greater post-expiration risk than would result from a 

sending district’s nonrenewal of the plan upon its expiration, there is no logical 

reason why the legislature would not have been content to impose liability for 

bonded indebtedness upon a withdrawing school district in this circumstance

only for the period between the date of its withdrawal and the expiration of the 

term of the plan. To construe the statute in the fashion Dunbarton advocates, 

and the majority accepts, imposes, in effect, punitive consequences upon a 

sending district that withdraws — other than in compliance with RSA 195-

A:14,VI — prior to the expiration of the term of the AREA plan. Although this 

construction of the statute does not seem to me to ring true, it is the only 

construction Dunbarton and the majority can place upon RSA 195-A:14, V if 

this statute is to be given any operative effect at all under their view of how the 

statutory scheme operates.

On the other hand, if — as I believe should be the case — the phrase 

“withdrawing sending district” is construed so as to include a sending school 

district that terminates its participation in the AREA plan for any reason, 

whether as a result of a mid-term withdrawal or the expiration of the term 

without renewal, then there is no need for the awkward construction of RSA

195-A:14, V produced under the majority view. Under my reading, RSA 

195-A:14, V and VI operate in tandem. When a receiving district notifies a 

sending district of its intent to incur bonded indebtedness, the sending district 

has two choices: it can initiate a withdrawal study under section VI and, if it 

withdraws from the AREA, have no liability for such indebtedness after the 
11

withdrawal; or it can decline to withdraw pursuant to section VI, in which case 

it will remain liable for its share of any outstanding indebtedness for the length 

of the bond issue pursuant to section V. This construction does not seem to 

me to be unfair to sending school districts, as Dunbarton argues, since a 

sending district that receives notice of a proposed bond issue by a receiving 

district that contains a term extending beyond the expiration of the current 

AREA plan can insist, as a condition of not exercising its withdrawal rights, 

that the terms of the plan be extended to cover the length of the bond.

I acknowledge that the construction of the statute I advocate, which 

treats the expiration of a plan as a “withdrawal” under RSA 195-A:14, V, places 

a different meaning on the term “withdrawal” than it is given under other 

subsections of RSA 195-A:14 (2008) (no party asserts, for example, that before 

a plan can expire at the end of its term a “withdrawal” feasibility study must be 

conducted under RSA 195-A:14, III), and that this is arguably at odds with one 

of our rules of statutory construction. See Appeal of Denton, 147 N.H. 259, 

260 (2001) (“Words used with plain meaning in one part of a statute are to be 

given the same meaning in other parts of the statute, unless a contrary 

intention is clearly shown.” (quotation omitted)). However such rules are 

intended as interpretative guideposts only, which must give way in the face of 

other indicia, as exists here, that such rules do not produce a logical outcome. 

See Ruel v. N.H. Real Estate Appraiser Bd., 163 N.H. 34, 39 (2011) (stating that 

the court will not interpret statutory language in a literal manner when such a 

reading would lead to an absurd or illogical result). Moreover, because, 

regardless of whether the reason is mid-term discontinuance or discontinuance 

at the end of the term, a sending school district that stops educating its 

children at the receiving district’s schools can logically be understood to have 

“withdrawn” from those schools, it is readily understandable that the 

legislature would use that term in a generic sense in RSA 195-A:14, V to 

capture both situations. See Webster’s Third New International Dictionary

2626 (unabridged ed. 2002) (defining “withdrawal” as “the act of drawing 

someone or something back from or out of a place or position”).

For the reasons stated above, I respectfully dissent. I also add one final 

point, as to which I feel confident both the majority and I agree: because the 

statutory provisions at issue are susceptible to two plausible but conflicting 

interpretations, the legislature should clarify their meaning so as to avoid 

uncertainty in this important area of law.