Second vote on LGUHS budget set for April 2

TOWNSHEND — Voters in Brookline, Jamaica, Newfane, Townshend, and Windham have another chance, April 2, to pass the 2015 Leland & Gray Union Middle and High School budget.

The school board chose that date after voters in those towns on Feb. 5 collectively shot down a nearly $7 million budget representing a 2.8 percent increase over the current year's spending plan.

School board members and administrators were left looking for public input as to why the budget failed, 132-122, and what voters would support.

The next L&G budget information meeting is set for Friday, Feb. 28, from 7:30 to 8:50 p.m., at the school library.

Records show most voters in Jamaica, Newfane, and Windham approved the budget as offered Feb. 5; voters in Brookline and Townshend rejected it.

In December, Dorinne Dorfman, L&G principal, in collaboration with Steven John, superintendent, and Franklin Rucker, CFO, produced a budget rationale for 2014-15, which is posted at bit.ly/1dvbZh9.

School administrators reportedly are instructed to shave the proposed spending increase to 2 percent, though it isn't clear where those cuts would come from.

The initial proposal contained regular education classroom instruction budget allocations at a decrease of 3 percent, though it called for increases in spending for school evaluation, special education, instructional technology, facilities, and Windham Central Supervisory Union expenses.

It also sought a tax increase in four of the five district towns.

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