A nearly 2-to-1 budget defeat was all the motivation the Oneida Teachers Association needed to make sure history did not repeat itself. After voters handily rejected the Oneida city school budget last year and the district was forced to operate under a contingency plan, educators this year helped pass the school budget, and staged a last-minute shakeup of the school board.

"Last year we were a little laid back. We had never had a budget go down before, and I don't think anybody anticipated having any trouble getting it through," said Brian Mroczek, president of the Oneida TA.

This year the local launched a full scale grassroots get-out-the-vote effort using everything from postcards, flyers, lawn signs and personal phone calls, to e-mail, text messaging and even Facebook.

Oneida voters passed the budget by almost 3-to-1, and the local managed to get a retired teacher elected to the school board as a write-in candidate.

"I approached her less than two weeks before the vote," Mroczek said. "She ended up winning 512 to 425 votes, and she ousted an incumbent."

New Yorkers across the state showed their confidence in their public schools by adopting a record 97.33 percent of local school budgets.

"Even in these tough economic times, we see that voters recognize the importance of supporting their local schools," said NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi. "By voting 'yes,' New Yorkers are saying they understand that as our economy turns around, students must be ready," for college and prepared for job opportunities in new and emerging fields.

Statewide, voters in 657 districts approved their school spending plans. Budgets were defeated in 18 districts; the vote in the Rush-Henrietta district was nullified due to an error.

Districts that saw their budgets go down now have three choices: submit the same budget for a revote, submit a revised budget for a revote or adopt a contingency budget. This year, contingency budgets are capped at 4 percent. Statewide revoting will take place on Tuesday, June 16.

Record passage

Union leaders attribute the record school budget passage rate to several factors, including the federal stimulus package which enabled the governor and state Legislature to erase proposed state budget cuts and provide a small increase in funding.

Another factor: data collected by the State Education Department shows districts this year proposed the lowest average spending and property tax increases since they began submitting the Property Tax Report Cards.

The average statewide budget increase averaged 2.35 percent, while property tax levies edged up 1.89 percent.

Yet another factor is the hard work of local unions and NYSUT members to get residents to the polls.

In Wappingers, which is currently operating under a contingency budget, the district's nine unions joined together in a coalition to pass the budget and elect positive, pro-education school board members.

"Putting all of our efforts together really paid off, and I'm very proud of that," said Wappingers Congress of Teachers President Pasquale Delli Carpini. The Wappingers budget passed by 200 votes.

NYSUT Executive Vice President Alan Lubin said the overwhelming support for schools showed voters do not need tax caps.

"By supporting school budgets, voters once again said 'yes' to good schools, even as many districts showed fiscal restraint and reined in overall costs," Lubin said.

Ironically, Iannuzzi said, voters in a few communities may have rejected their school budgets because they opposed spending cuts, including the elimination of programs and cuts to faculty and staff.

That may have been part of the motivation behind the defeat of the Troy school budget, local President Seth Cohen said.

"With the 50 layoffs we had a lot of community anger, and this is a way that people expressed it," Cohen said. "I don't know if people actually think voting 'no' will bring back the layoffs, but it is one way to voice their frustration."

The Troy school board has adopted a contingency budget.

Voter frustration may also be responsible for a budget defeat in St. Regis Falls, said union co-president Lyndon Farmer.

Meanwhile in Broadalbin-Perth, educators and students may be facing a second year under a contingency budget.

In addition to the difficulty of securing enough supplies to last throughout the school year, up to 14 teachers may lose their jobs, said Dawn Thomas, local union co-president.