BETHEL — About 40 residents voted in favor of the $17.6 million School Administrative District 44 (SAD-44) budget during the first vote held at the Telstar High School Auditorium on May 28. This was the initial step in the district’s two-tier budget approval process. The final vote will take place Tuesday, June 10, at polling places in each member town.

Voters in Newry, Greenwood, and Woodstock will cast ballots at their respective town offices, while Bethel voters will head to the American Legion Mundt-Allen Post #81 on Vernon Street. Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

This year, voters will also decide on a state-mandated referendum asking whether they wish to continue the two-vote process or move to a single vote at the district budget meeting.

In addition to the budget, voters will elect members to the School Board. In Bethel, incumbents Scott Cole and Mark Hutchins are seeking re-election to two open seats. Erin Cooley is also seeking another term as a School Board Director. In Newry, Amy Henley is on the ballot, while Andrew Baker is running in Greenwood.  Melinda Swayne and Incumbent Marcy Winslow are write-in schoolboard candidates vying for one open seat to represent Woodstock.

During the May 28 meeting, Superintendent Mark Kenney, along with finance committee members Erin Cooley (Board Chair, Bethel), Destiny Hughes (Greenwood), and Meredith Harrop (Newry), presented key details of the proposed budget.

Other current School Board members include Levi Brown, Stephanie Cayer, Stephanie Herbeck, and Beth Weisberger of Bethel; David Bartlett of Newry; and Sheryl Morgan and Bryan Kendall of Woodstock.

The FY26 budget includes notable increases in employee health insurance costs (up 13.8%), funding for new Special Education positions, and a $147,000 local contribution to Adult Education to maintain state funding.

SAD-44 uses an 88/12 cost-sharing formula, with 88% of each town’s assessment based on property valuation and 12% on student enrollment.

Of the 18 budget articles presented on May 28, all passed, with only one article receiving a single dissenting vote.

Voters received a budget review publication in their mailboxes earlier this month and Kenney’s slides with the budget breakdown are on the MSAD 44 website under school board documents.