HOWLAND – Terri Magnant teaches her three children at home, but that didn’t stop her from voting in favor of SAD 31’s proposed $6.69 million budget, she said.

“Education is the most important thing we can support,” Magnant said after voting early Tuesday night at Howland Town Hall. “They [SAD 31 educators] do the best they can and they do a wonderful job, but they had to cut too many programs because the funding is just not there.

“I believe the school system needs all the help it can get,” she added. “Everybody should help out however they can.”

Sentiments such as Magnant’s are probably why most voters supported the 2006-07 school budget. Uncertified totals collected Wednesday showed Burlington, Edinburg, Enfield, Howland, Maxfield and Passadumkeag voters sided decisively in favor of the budget, interim SAD 31 Superintendent Jerry White said.

On the 17 budget questions posed by the ballot, 4,409 voted yes, and 3,095 voters rejected the budget, White said. The 17 questions passed. White did not have a breakdown of vote totals by town immediately available.

The vote totals will be certified in the next few days. Vote collectors described voter turnout as low even for an off-year.

The proposed budget is 1.85 percent, or $130,000 less, than the $6.81 million budget that expires June 30.

Directors attributed the decrease – which occurs despite SAD 31 teachers and hourly-wage employees getting 2.8 percent to 3.3 percent pay increases – to White and the school staff increasing efficiency.

White and John Neel, chairman of the SAD 31 board of directors, were pleased with the vote.

“Now we need to go on and continue to pay attention to our spending and use the budget to enhance our education programs,” White said Wednesday.

The new budget assesses SAD 31’s towns about $1.64 million. Burlington would be assessed $170,620; Edinburg, $53,960; Enfield, $902,120; Howland, $354,920; Maxfield, $41,040 and Passadumkeag, $119,700.

Compared to the 2005-06 budget, local assessments are mixed. Burlington’s assessment drops about $21,000; Edinburg’s rises $4,051; Enfield’s rises $24,207; Howland’s increases $6,572; Maxfield drops $50; and Passadumkeag’s drops $50,576.

Passadumkeag’s drop is attributed to a valuation decrease caused by the destruction of a sawmill in 2002, directors said.

White said the vote was a good harbinger for the upcoming referendum on renovating Penobscot Valley High School and the interconnected Hichborn Middle School. If a majority of SAD 31 voters approve paying about $1.4 million to renovate the schools, the state will contribute about $2.5 million. No referendum date has been set.

The vote “shows that the community is willing to support our schools,” White said.

Neel said he wasn’t so sure one vote could be connected to another.

“The referendum coming up is another subject,” he said. “We are going to get together a package to educate the public as to what we want to do” with the renovation.