After chopping $133,729 from their original $34.8 million budget proposal, District 13 Board of Education members were delighted to exclaim to each other, "We have a budget" after the referendum vote ended at 8 p.m. today.

Voting for the third time, 1,967 voters in Durham and Middlefield passed District 13 education budget for next year with the smallest raise in anyone's memory -- less than one percent.

The total vote was 1,090 yes, 877 no, which means that slightly fewer people voted this time around (1,981 votes were cast on June 2; 1,802 were cast in the first referendum on May 5).

Following the defeat of a $33.9 million gross education budget (gross budget is without expected offsetting receipts) on June 9, the Regional District 13 Board of Education cut $118,000 and is sending a $33.8 million gross budget to referendum tomorrow, June 23. This is less than one percent higher than the current year's budget.

The number of voters went up and the margin slimmed down a bit, but the end result of today's referendum on the District 13 education budget was again a "no" from voters. This time around, 964 people voted for the budget whil 1,017 voted against.

Two referenda are upcoming for Middlefield residents -- they get the chance to vote on Tuesday, June 2, on the proposed District 13 education budget and on Tuesday, June 9, on the proposed town budget. Both referenda will be held at the Community Center from 6 a.m.-8 p.m.

 At the May 18 meeting, the board of education voted on a $31.4 million budget for 2009-2010 after accepting $7,800 in union concessions and $352,000 in additional cuts.

Only the Board of Education and a few members of the public were present to hear District 13 Superintendent Susan Viccaro present the smallest increase in the school budget in a very long time – a mere 2.91 percent for a net bottom line of $31,948,410.