PITTSFIELD – In central Maine, voters handily passed school budgets in both SAD 48 and SAD 53 and elected selectmen in St. Albans and Newport.

Marion Spalding defeated Dan Hanson by a 2-1 margin in St. Albans to fill a Board of Selectman’s seat vacated by the resignation earlier this year of then-Chairman Curt Lombard. Spalding received 231 votes, Hanson, 120 votes.

At Newport, veteran Selectman John Buckland, who had announced his retirement in March, won his seat back during a write-in voting campaign. He received 50 votes to former board member James Brann’s 46 votes and John Michaud’s 28 votes.

Newport voters failed to elect anyone as SAD 48 director. The position, formerly held by Kim Lander, was also unfilled in March annual town meeting elections.

In SAD 53, which includes Burnham, Detroit and Pittsfield, voters passed all six budget questions to approve the $10.7 million proposed budget. The budget represents a decrease in local taxation for all three communities.

The school board will meet Thursday to ratify the vote.

At SAD 48, which includes Corinna, Hartland, Newport, Palmyra, Plymouth and St. Albans, nearly all articles were approved by all communities when voters approved a $19.2 million budget. It reflects a 2.98 percent increase in local assessments.

The only defeated budget question was in St. Albans where voters rejected the bottom line of the budget by only eight votes.