Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook. WESTMINSTER â The high per-pupil costs for the 315 students attending Bellows Falls Union High School attracted attention from a former school board member Wednesday night. James McAuliffe of Bellows Falls, the former board member, questioned the current board and principal on why more hadnât been done to bring per-pupil costs down and avoid the financial penalty cap established by the Vermont Agency of Education. Principal Christopher Hodsden told a Zoom gathering of about two dozen people, most of them either school employees or school board members, that he has cut $200,000 in spending, and that the proposed $7.3 million budget is actually 2 percent lower than the current budget of $7.5 million.