By: Jeff Lipton
Lawrence Public Schools budget defeated by 531 votes
District 15 on austerity for 3rd straight year
District 15 residents rejected Lawrence's proposed budget for a second time in a month on Wednesday, June 15, and thus put the district on austerity for the third year in a row.
Voters rejected the revised budget proposal of $88.4 million, a 3.5 percent increase, by 531 votes, 3,074 to 2,543. Had the budget passed it would have been around $1,000 less than a contingency budget, under which the district is only able to spend money on bare essential items.
The original budget proposal of $89.3 million, a 4.54 percent increase, was rejected by 397 votes on May 17.
