Region 14 Budget Fails at Referendum

The Region 14 Board of Education is going back to the drawing board after Bethlehem and Woodbury residents voted the budget down for the second time.

The community voted the budget down, 1,210 to 843, at the Wednesday, June 6, referendum at Memorial Hall in Bethlehem and the .

Bethlehem

• Yes: 175
• No: 293

Woodbury

• Yes: 668
• No: 917

The rejected budget amount, at $30,817,765, reflects a $571,736 increase, or 1.89 percent, over the 2011-12 budget of $30,246,029.

At prior budget meetings, residents expressed concern over Region 14 Superintendent Jody Goeler's support of the director of curriculum and instruction position, prompting .

Woodbury-Middlebury Patch reader left the following comment on the

I would vote for the budget if the curriculum job was taken out of the budget. The job pays 150K, that’s 3 teachers, 5 EA's, or new text books for the next decade. Other towns give department head’s a 5-10k stipend to make the curriculum. Since they work with the subject everyday in their job, they have a better feeling for what works, what doesn't, and what is needed. Save the money and pay an employee to do the job with a stipend. But a new 150k admin job is a waste of money.

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commented on the article too, saying he voted against the budget.

I voted NO and hope all reasonable voters will, too, or we'll never get out of this recession.