In a 751-591 vote, the Weare School Board succeeded in its second attempt at getting a 2008- 09 budget passed.

A total of 1,342 out of 5,852 registered Weare voters showed up at the polls at Center Woods Elementary School on Tuesday, June 3, to cast their vote on whether to adopt a school budget $240,000 more than the default that went into effect when the first budget failed with voters in March.

“It just goes to show you what positive things can happen when people get involved,” said School Board member Judy Lamont.

The school district’s operating budget for 2008-09 will now be $12,703,776 million, representing a tax rate increase of 52 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value from last year. For a home assessed at $250,000, that’s a tax bill increase of $130.

Initially, the $12.9 million budget the School Board proposed for 2008-09 was voted down at the polls in March, 806- 731, for a $12.4 million default budget. The default would have added $62.50 to the tax bill fot a home assessed at $250,000.

A total of 1,537 Weare voters weighed in on the budget in March. The turnout for the second vote was 87 percent of the voters who came out the first time. Twenty-eight Weare residents registered at the polls to vote for the second go-around on the school budget.

School officials said remaining on the $12,463,776 million default budget would have imposed several cuts in staff, including the sole world languages teacher at the middle school and the art teacher at Center Woods. Both of those positions will likely still be considered in cuts for the coming year, even with the passage of the $12.7 million budget.

It would also have forced cuts in night and weekend maintenance coverage and eliminated two buses. The School Board added $240,000 to the default to bring it to $12,703,776 million in the new proposal, which would restore two teaching positions, night and weekend custodian coverage and one bus to the budget. “I think this is really great for the kids and education in Weare,” said Superintendent Christine Tyrie.

If the new budget had not passed, Weare would have been in a second default budget for the second year in a row and would have operated on 2006-07 costs, Tyrie said.

School Board member Paul Levandowski said the board is looking for input from the Weare community on how to allocate the new funds.

“We always value their opinion. It’s their school,” said Levandowski, adding he has heard feedback indicating the community wants to keep the language and art positions.

School Board member Helen Dutton said one voter asked her, before he went into the booth, what was going going to be added back to the budget if it was approved.

“I said we’re not going to be adding, but less will be taken away,” Dutton said.

Those who want to give their input on what to do with the funds in the new budget should attend the board’s next meeting on Tuesday, June 17, Levandowski said. The meeting will be held at Center Woods at 7 p.m.

“We have a new finite set of dollars that we can deal with, and we just have to find the most expeditious way to spend that money,” School Board Chairman Matt Thomas said.

The board does not meet in July, so a decision on how to spend the money must come soon, said School Board member Marjorie Burke.

School Board members credited a parent advocate group set up by resident Tricia Ober for campaigning for the vote and getting the word out about the budget concerns.

“We had this great group of parents that mobilized and got other parents out to vote,” said Burke.

Ober said she would keep the advocacy group going for next year’s budget.

“This is what should have happened the first time around,” she said. “If we can educate the public, that’s the whole reason we started this.”