WALDOBORO — A huge crowd of SAD 40 voters pulled an all-nighter Tuesday in their third try during the last month to pass a school budget.

As midnight approached, nearly 1,000 voters were casting their second round of secret ballots for the night, to see if they would raise $1.37 million in additional local funds to support their $11 million total budget.

The first vote of the evening, to raise $1.1 million, failed 463-491 after a long discussion and even longer voting and counting process.

In the first try at a school budget on June 14, voters rejected an article to raise the $1.7 million in additional local money needed to support a $11.7 million total budget. More than 2,000 voters went to the polls that day, narrowly turning down a budget about 9 percent higher than last year’s.

The additional local money is that which is raised on top of the local funds that are matched by state subsidy.

At a special district meeting nine days later, which drew a little more than 300 voters, the local funding was approved with a $72,000 cut proposed by the board.

The third vote Tuesday night was forced by a petition, signed by 280 residents, dissatisfied by the small size of the board’s reduction and critical of the June 23 meeting, which they said was poorly advertised and lacking in thorough, open debate.

The board came into Tuesday’s meeting with a revised local sum of $1.4 million, a cut of $252,000 from the June 23 proposal. Opponents countered with an amendment for $1.1 million.

The debate Tuesday between supporters of the board’s $1.4 million revision and the backers of the $1.1 million pitted those who cited the increasing demands being placed upon schools against those who said more money is not the answer to the national problem of declining educational achievement.

The $1.1 million figure is last year’s additional local money plus a 3 percent allowance for inflation.

Steve Cartwright of Waldoboro, a supporter of the board’s $1.4 million proposal, asked voters to compromise, saying the two cuts made by the board “are already severe. I recognize that tough times call for tough measures, but we have to recognize that schools today have to do a lot more.”

Board Chairman Mary Merrill said the devastation caused by rising taxes and stagnant incomes should not be blamed solely on education budgets.

“I believe the people of SAD 40 are committed to the best education for the least money; we are the second-thriftiest district in the state. I cannot accept the notion that the school district alone is responsible for the situation we find ourselves in,” said Merrill.

Proponents of the $1.1 million level said the extreme belt-tightening would help heal the wounds by compelling parents to become more involved in the schools as volunteers and by forcing the board to revamp its education program.

Dean Ness of Waldoboro said “an adversarial situation” permeates the district now.

“The majority of our students are not getting the education we’re paying for,” he said. “Money is not the answer. We have a social problem.”

Bill Branigan of Waldoboro, an organizer of the petition campaign that forced the third vote, said a fundamental problem with school budgets is that the board negotiates contracts with staff and then comes to voters for the money.

“It’s a sword held over our heads,” he said. “If the $1.1 million passes, the board should renegotiate teacher contracts to ensure that each teacher is kept on; there should be enough for a small raise. If the teachers are interested in keeping all the teaching jobs, they will be willing to renegotiate. It’s called sharing the burden.”

After the $1.1 million vote failed, Branigan came back with the motion for $1,373,948.