Candia residents decided against the tuition agreement for a joint middle school with Auburn in a 278-766 vote.

The article for a $25 million bond will now come off Auburn’s warrant, being void.

Candia School Board Chairman Karen Smith said she was disappointed with the result, but that the School Board would continue to explore options to upgrade the Moore School.

“I frankly didn’t think the middle school vote was going to be so overwhelmingly against,” Smith said.

Last year, voters approved Candia’s portion of the engineering and design costs to draw up the plans for the 102,000-square-foot school, which included a high-school-sized gymnasium, serveral sports fields, extra class space, an upgraded media center and community spaces.

The plan was for Auburn to make the bond payments with Candia paying yearly for building and operating costs. Based on current enrollment, Auburn taxpayers would pay 62 percent of the building and operating costs and Candia the remaining 38 percent.

Candia School Board member Ingrid Byrd has been joined by other residents against the project from the beginning, saying it would take control away from Candia parents and school officials and that the town wasn’t ready for the tax increase the 20- year tuition agreement would bring.

“I think the major reason it didn’t go is because we have no control over anything at that school,” said selectmen Chairman Fred Kelley, adding the tuition agreeement did not allow Candia residents on the School Board for the new school.

The school was initially proposed to remedy program and facility shortfalls in both Auburn Village and Moore schools as well as projected enrollment jumps in the coming years.

Auburn, now facing the task of instituting public kindergarten by September, designated the existing technology education classrooms for two kindergarten classrooms.

In addition to the middle school, voters in Auburn would have to approve the costs to establish kindergarten.

The Candia School Board gained two new write-in members, Rhonda Thyng and Melissa Madden, after Smith was the sole candidate for one of three open seats following the filing period.

Voters also turned down a warrant article asking for $91,855 to purchase and install a generator at the Moore School, 484-527.

The School Board was triumphant in passing their proposed $7,486,408 operating budget with 697 approving and 302 voting against. The proposed budget was $39,753 less than the default.

On the town side, voters passed the proposed budget of $2,321,660 for 2008-09, a number Candia voters grappled over at the deliberative session in February.

The town also voted to keep the Budget Committee in place, 565-420, after tensions between the Budget Committee and the selectmen surfaced during budget deliberations.

The sale of a 12-acre parcel at Exit 3 for a grocery store also passed with voters, 692-320. Voters also agreed to raise $30,000 for the Candia Youth Athletic Association in a 581-445 vote.