RUMFORD — The $38.23 million Regional School Unit 10 budget was overwhelmingly approved Wednesday night at Mountain Valley High School.
About 50 residents plus the school board attended the meeting and vote. A validation referendum in each town is set for June 14.
Passage of the 2016-17 spending plan, which is 4.2 percent more than this fiscal year, includes $5.4 million more than the state’s Essential Programs and Services requirement.
The extra spending was not without its opponents.
Tom Standard of Sumner said he is not against spending for academics, but he does object to financing co-curricular and extracurricular activities.
“We’re a poor community,” he said, suggesting students or parents pay for them. “When it comes to extracurricular, we can’t afford it.”
Dan McKay of Dixfield also objected to the higher budget.
“In the last four years, RSU 10 student enrollment has declined by 9 percent … yet the RSU 10 budget has grown by nearly 9 percent,” he said.
Moderator John Madigan of Rumford, who is town manager for Mexico and Rumford, said his seven children received their education in area schools.
“I know for a fact that extracurricular activities are as important as academics,” he said. “My children are all productive members of society.”
The local share will rise by 2.9 percent if the budget passes at referendum in Rumford, Mexico, Byron, Roxbury, Dixfield, Canton, Carthage, Peru, Hartford, Sumner, Buckfield and Hanover.
Voters also approved:
• Purchase of three buses, $261,600;
• Oxford Hills Technical School adult education program, $2,865; and
• Regional 9 School of Applied Technology adult education program, $179,767.
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