More than 100 voters concerned about the deep cuts in the school district staffing the default budget brings showed up to another deliberative session on a new school budget.

The warrant article, which calls for a total budget of $12,703,776 budget for the 2008- 09 year rather than accepting the default budget, was passed to the ballot as is, after one proposed amendment to bring it to within $6 of the original proposed budget failed.

Residents gathered Tuesday, May 6, at Center Woods Elementary School for the session. This is the first time the Weare School Board and school district administration have gone to voters for reconsideration of a budget.

“I’ve never supported a revote, but this time we have to,” said resident and former selectman Joseph Fiala, adding altering the $12.7 million would negate the work the board and school administration has done on the budget.

“I say we support them by supporting the budget. I don’t need to know every single number to know that they’ve done a good job,” Fiala said.

The re-vote will take place Tuesday, June 3, and will cost the district about $3,500, an amount school officials were willing to make room for to save the loss of seven staff positions, most of those teachers.

Significant changes to transportation – including eliminating two buses and not picking up students who live within 2 miles of their school – are also part of the cuts that come with the $12.4 million default.

In March, voters turned down the school district’s $12,928,782 million budget in a 806-to-731 vote, and the second default budget in a row, amounting to $12,463,776, went into effect. “What we’re doing is taking a budget that’s two years old and applying costs and needs for the next fiscal year,” said Weare Superintendent Christine Tyrie.

The School Board added $240,000 to the default to bring it to $12.7 million in the new proposal, which would restore two teaching positions, night and weekend custodian coverage and one bus to the budget.

The $12.4 million default currently in place will result in an increase of 25 cents per $1,000 of assessed value on the tax rate over last year. If the new $12.7 million proposed budget passes, the tax rate would increase by 52 cents per $1,000 of assessed value from last year.

For a home assessed at $250,000, that’s a tax bill increase of $62.50 under the default budget or $130 under the second proposed budget over last year’s rate.

The art teacher at Center Woods Elementary School, Roz Milano, and the sole French teacher at the middle school, June Rolon, were among those who would be out of a job next year under the default, along with two education paraprofessionals at the middle school, one weekend custodian, one special education teacher at Center Woods and one bus, according to school officials.

At the deliberative session, School Board Chairman Matt Thomas said that after the community’s support for keeping the French program intact, the only foreign language offered to Weare students, the French teacher position would likely be one of the first things to be restored under the new budget.

Resident Jonathan Dowst spoke against the amended budget, saying a new budget that is virtually the same as the first one proposed didn’t stand a chance with voters.

“I respect it, I voted for it the first time and I’d do it again, but I don’t think it’ll carry,” Dowst said.

Weare Middle School’s operating costs were a new addition to the budget this year, affecting spending in terms of adding teachers to accommodate the new school and maintaining the facilities.

Weare spends the least amount per pupil in the state. The state average is around $10,000 per pupil, and Weare spends $7,345 per pupil, according to Tyrie. Goffstown spends $8,425 per pupil and Henniker, which shares a school administrative unit with Weare, spends $11,441, Tyrie said.