Voters approve 2021-22 budget and bus proposition, elect Lisa Joslin to Board of Education

District residents voted 269-65 to approve a $23.67 proposed budget for the  2021-22 school year on May 18, 2021. They also approved 265-69 a proposition to purchase three 72-passenger school buses and two 28-passenger buses, and they elected Lisa Joslin to serve a three-year term on the Board of Education.

The 2021-22 budget will maintain educational programs, staffing and services while decreasing the district’s tax levy. The budget also restores basic equipment funding frozen in 2020-21 during the state’s financial uncertainty due to COVID-19. 

The budget includes a slight spending increase of 0.98 percent over the current-year budget to fund annual contractual salary obligations and debt service related to the recent capital improvement project.

On May 18, residents also voted to authorize the district to purchase three three 72-passenger school buses and two 28-passenger buses at a cost not to exceed $504,000. The district will use $150,000 from the Transportation Reserve Fund toward the purchases. The bus purchases are eligible for state aid.

Voters elected Lisa Joslin to the Board of Education for a three-year term beginning July 1, 2021. The seat is currently held by board member Randy Bashwinger, who was not seeking re-election. She received 256 votes.