By Nicholas Brown
Staff Writer

The Hooksett School District will avoid a second default operating budget in a row, as voters approved the revised budget for town's schools on Tuesday, May 31, at Cawley Middle School.

The new budget, approved 656-601, will be $21,644,339. Though about $100,000 less than originally proposed in March, the new budget provides nearly $470,000 more than would have been allowed in a default budget.

Provisions cut from the original budget include a program for advanced students, a management software package for students, and some miscellaneous supplies. District officials had worried in recent weeks that another rejection of the budget would cause major cuts in programs like sports, field trips, student council and yearbooks.

"We would have made some very tough decisions," said Hooksett School Board member Ron Dion. "I ran for the school board not to cut programs, but to support education."

After voters declined the original warrant article on the budget, the district made use of a stipulation in the article that allowed a second vote, with the results of the second vote being final. Though the action was within state law, some Hooksett residents have expressed dismay over having a second vote.

The fewer than 600 voters who visited the polls in March made up less than half of a typical election-day turnout. The budget was rejected by a slim five-vote margin, 265-270. A more typical 1,330 came to the polls Tuesday, with 73 ballots being left blank.

"I would have liked it to go more in our favor," Dion said. "It tells me that we need to be very careful about where our pennies go."

In a recent deliberative session on the new budget, school board members cited both bad weather and a responsibility to Hooksett students as reasons for a second vote.

"I didn't really believe that the first vote was truly representative of the town's wishes," said Dion.

Hooksett voters have had mixed support for school projects in recent years. They approved renovations to Memorial School and the construction of Cawley Middle School, yet also rejected last year's school operating budget, along with the first vote on this year's budget.