It took almost three-and-a-half hours of points of order, questions and sometimes answers but the Bluewater District School Board has approved in 2011-12 budget.
When the dust had cleared trustees had approved a budget worth almost 199-million-dollars.
The number is exactly the same as last week but trustees found around 50 thousand dollars from other areas to dedicate to school budgets for their direct use.
In a recorded vote, the document passed 8-2.
Meaford/Blue Mountains trustee Fran Morgan voted against the budget for a second time.
She, along with Deputy Chair John Chapman said nothing had changed in one week and they saw no reason to support the final number.
Kincardine/Huron Kinloss trustee Jan Johnstone was the most vocal during the budget session and wanted more money going directly to schools for programs.
Johnstone suggested the Wiarton Outdoor Education Centre budget of almost 500 thousand dollars be cut in half with the savings going directly to secondary schools who don’t use the outdoor centre anyway.
The move was turned down.
Board chair Marg Gaviller says the budget process was a painful one because cuts had to be made, alluding to the mothballing of the four elementary school tech centres for 12 months.
She says she’s happy they have an approved budget but she’s not particularly happy about the outcome.
Gaviller says they did the best they could.
In the recorded vote, trustees Kevin Larson; Jan Johnstone; Jim Dawson; Terry Bell; Marg Gaviller; Dan Wong; Tony Pedoniquotte and Marilyn McComb voted in favour.
John Chapman and Fran Morgan voted against.
