The residents of Freeport, Durham, and Pownal overwhelmingly approved the proposed budget for Regional School Unit 5 at  Tuesday’s election.

The results for Article 1, which approved the RSU 5 budget proposal, received 817 yes votes to 494 no votes, and Article 2, continuing the budget process for three more years, received 951 yes votes to 346 no votes.

The total amount recommended by the RSU 5 School Board on Wednesday, May 14, was $44.3 million, an increase of $2.8 million from last year’s school budget of $41.5 million. The two largest items in this year’s RSU5 school budget were regular instruction, at $19.3 million, and special education, at $6.5 million.

The RSU5 school board passed all articles in the proposed school budget in the amount recommended or as written during the annual budget meeting held in the Durham Community School Gymnasium on Wednesday, May 14. Voters agreed with the amounts when casting their votes in Tuesday’s election.