By Editorial Staff
(September 24, 2026) — The following are unofficial results from the referendum on renovations at Haddam-Killingworth High School held on September 24, 2026:
YES/NO: “Shall Regional School District No. 17, comprised of the Towns of Haddam and Killingworth, appropriate $151,900,000 for renovations and improvements to Haddam-Killingworth High School and authorize the issuance of bonds or notes of the District in an amount not to exceed $77,200,000 to finance the appropriation, or so much as may be necessary after deducting grants to be received for the project?”
Haddam
YES 858
NO 707
VOTER TURNOUT 24.9%
Killingworth
YES 589
NO 700
VOYER TURNOUT 25.2%
Totals
YES 1447
NO 1407
VOTER TURNOUT 25%
Killingworth voted No by 111 votes — and still lost.
This is the most important result of this entire saga. Killingworth taxpayers — who pay 40% of the bond — clearly rejected this project. Haddam — who pay 60% — pushed it through by 151 votes, overriding Killingworth’s clear No mandate.
The Democratic Deficit
The town bearing 40% of a $77.2M bond obligation voted No by a clear margin. The other town voted Yes and carried the day. Killingworth residents had no effective veto despite:
Four operating budget No votes this cycle
– A clear No on the capital referendum
– An aging demographic with the least direct benefit
– The highest proportional mill rate increase in recent years
The Risks Now Locked In
Everything Unger identified is now the community’s problem to manage:
– Leadership vacuum — new superintendent, temporary finance director, no facilities manager — responsible for hitting state reimbursement milestones on a $151.9M project
– Cost estimates from a year ago already outdated — real number likely $165-175M before construction begins
– Towns are now legal guarantors of the full $151.9M if state reimbursement is denied or clawed back
– Construction won’t start for approximately two years — more cost escalation
– No household-level tax impact was ever disclosed by the BOE before the vote
Very disappointed with the voter turnout in such an important town decision yesterday. To read only 25% in each town of registered voters cared enough to exercise the right to vote is sad indeed. This was one of the few occasions where taxpayers have a say as to how much money government will impose on them.
I’m a constituent in Killingworth writing about a structural issue in how Connecticut’s regional school district bond referenda are decided.
On September 24, Regional School District 17 (Haddam-Killingworth) held a referendum on a $151.9 million bond to fully rebuild Haddam-Killingworth High School. The measure passed by only 40 votes district-wide, but the two towns split sharply. Haddam voted yes, while Killingworth voted no by a wide margin. Because bond authorizations under C.G.S. § 10-56 are decided by a single district-wide majority rather than separate majorities in each town, Killingworth’s clear opposition was outweighed by Haddam’s larger turnout and had no independent effect on the outcome.
I want to explore a bill amending § 10-56 either generally for all regional school districts or as a special act for RSD17 to require an affirmative majority in each member town, not just district-wide, for bond authorizations above a certain dollar threshold or a certain percentage of the district’s grand list. I believe that on projects with large price tags, a smaller town’s majority vote should carry independent weight rather than being absorbed and erased by a larger partner town’s turnout.
I recognize this is a difficult ask and that a change like this would face pushback from officials and residents who would argue it lets a minority town block decisions the district supports. But this is not unprecedented for the General Assembly. In 2009, HB-06493 addressed unequal town voting weight within Regional School District 11 (Hampton, Chaplin, Scotland), including testimony raising equal-protection concerns about how one town’s vote could override a much larger combined majority in other towns in the district.
GM Huff