Split vote causes failure of school budget override
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

Westminster Advisory Board member Keith Harding stands at the intersection of Main, South and Leominster streets in Westminster to show his support to this year's override question on the school budget. JOURNAL PHOTO/CAITLYN KELLEHER

Voters in Westminster passed the request for additional funding for the Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School System, while voters in Ashburnham rejected the same proposal, causing the school district to have to go without the funding.

The Regional School District sought a $295,150 operational override on Tuesday, June 16, to help replace some of the items and staff members that were cut after last year's failed override and to keep athletic fees at $100.

"We'll lock in the cuts from last year," School Committee Chairman David Christianson said. "Everyone knows in black and white what will happen in the schools."

Westminster voters passed the override request for $120,594 with a vote of 544-409, with 18 percent of the town's registered voters turning out.

Ashburnham voters rejected the override request for $174,565 with a voter of 587-378, with about 26 percent of registered voters turning out.

Christianson, an Ashburnham resident, and Superintendent of Schools Michael Zapantis were present at John R. Briggs (Ashburnham's polling place) when the results were announced. Other School Committee members waited for the results in Westminster.

All were disappointed by the failure of the override.

"It is history repeating itself," Christianson said.

He said this second failure of an override means the School Committee and then the public will have to determine if the district's strategic plan sets the right goals and right priorities for the school district and if those goals are attainable with increasing demands. He said the state and federal funding is not stepping up to help the needs of the district, so the two towns are going to have to priorities their goals.

"We have to look at what we are trying to accomplish," he said.

The district's goal is to have the students achieving in the top 10 percent of school districts in the state.

School Committee members voted earlier this year not to seek approval at a second attempt of the override ballot election. This is unlike other years, including last year, when the School Committee has voted to lower the requested override figure and try again.

Leonard Beaton, a Westminster representative to the School Committee, said he does not think the split vote between the two towns will cause hard feelings similar to those that had developed in the past when the two towns voted differently.

"It was $30 in Westminster," Beaton said, referring to the total impact of the single override question on the Westminster ballot.

He said the impact was more than triple that in Ashburnham if all four questions had passed, even if the impact of some of those questions lasted for only a year.

"There's a significant difference," Beaton said. "The killer is seven votes for Briggs."

Beaton said he wanted to make sure to thank the voters of Westminster for coming out and supporting the override, a statement Christianson echoed.

Westminster Election Results

Question #1 - Shall the Town of Westminster be allowed to assess an additional $120,594 in real estate and personal property taxes for the operating budget of the Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School district for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2008?
Yes - 544
No - 409
Blanks - 20