Lyndonville’s school budget voted down second time, forcing contingency budget

Voters rejected spending plan 327 to 292; District needs to make $266,495 in reductions

Photo by Tom Rivers: yard signs were out around Lyndonville urging voters to reject the proposed budget, which was the same as the one defeated on May 19.

LYNDONVILLE – In a narrow vote today, Lyndonville school district residents again rejected the proposed budget for 2026-27.

Voters defeated the $19,194,000 budget by 327 no to 292 yes. Lyndonville will now have to adopt a contingency budget that doesn’t increase taxes and needs to reduce spending by $266,495.

The voter turnout was more than double from May 19, when the budget was first rejected with 172 opposed and 129 in favor.

Dr. Heather Lyon, the district superintendent, said she doesn’t anticipate any staff will be laid off as part of the contingency. The district has about 120 total employees serving a student population of 620 in grades prekindergarten to 12.

How the Board of Education and the district leadership will make cuts is to be determined.

Lyon said the district will be limited to spending on only essential items. Lyndonville may have to reduce extracurricular activities and clubs, athletics purchases, student travel, use of school facilities by outside groups, equipment purchases and field trips, she said.

“District leaders will work thoughtfully through this process to minimize the impact on students and provide the best possible educational experience within the constraints of a contingency budget,” she wrote tonight in a message to the community. “Additional information about the contingency budget and any resulting changes will be shared with families, staff and community members as it becomes available.”

Lyon said the district’s administrators and Board of Education worked hard to present a budget with a 2.5 percent tax increase, which was below the district’s allowable tax cap of 4.0 percent.

But some in the community wanted the district to lower the taxes even further. Bill Jurinich, a former board member, told the board during a meeting last week the district should have made some cuts and not presented the same budget as the one that was defeated on May 19.