BINGHAM — Voters in School Administrative District 13 in Bingham and Moscow will head back to the polling stations Tuesday for a second try at passing a school budget for the coming year. Voting by referendum ballot is set for 1-7 p.m. at Quimby Middle School in Bingham and at the Moscow Elementary School.

Residents in June said “no” 80-58, to a budget of $3,622,076 for 2017-2018. The vote was done June 13 by secret-ballot referendum. Voters earlier had approved the spending package during the June 6 budget meeting.

Residents met again on June 20 to hammer out a budget that the voting public could accept. The new proposal is for $3,499,635 — $122,441 lower than the one rejected last month, which showed an increase in spending of $162,568.

Brian Malloy, chairman of the school board, said after the failed vote in June that the new spending would have included hiring two principals for district schools, where up until now there had been only one for all classes — Julie Richard. Malloy said residents don’t like the idea of two principals for a total of 200 students.

That’s where most of the cost cutting came in the budget that goes to voters on Tuesday, Malloy said Monday. He said that instead of having a separate principal for pre-kindergarten through grade 6, they are proposing a teaching principal. That alone, he said, comes with a cost saving of $62,344. The teaching principal has not yet been hired, but Malloy said he suspects that person will be coming from existing staff.

Malloy said the district has hired Lee Harper, of Madison, to be the grade 7-12 principal.

Other costs cut include $3,000 for maintenance supplies, $25,000 from the teacher tuition line for recertification. Some educational technicians were transferred to the Title 1 line for a savings of $38,000, and $5,200 in savings for photo copiers and other smaller cuts reduced the budget further, Malloy said.

On the other side of the ledger, he said there also has been an increase in special education costs and costs for teacher retirement that is no longer picked up by the state. Malloy said the district will be receiving $861,124 in state aid to education.

Highlights of the budget, which was supposed to have taken effect July 1, include $1,311,789 for regular instruction, down from the rejected $1,344,808; $546,287 for special education, down from the proposed $556,456 in June; $255,269 for system administration, down from the proposed $264,869 originally; and $255,460, down from $324,752 for school administration.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367

dharlow@centralmaine.com

Twitter:@Doug_Harlow