NEWPORT (AP) – Officials say the school district could run out of money by the end of the month after voters rejected the district’s proposed budget for a sixth time.

Residents in School Administrative District 48 on Tuesday rejected the latest budget proposal by a vote of 1,356 to 1,091, continuing a property-tax revolt that has lasted nine months. SAD 48 comprises Newport, Corinna, Hartland, St. Albans, Palmyra and Plymouth.

The string of defeated budget proposals is thought to be unprecedented in Maine.

“Teachers are very aware and concerned,” said Efrain Rojas, a Spanish teacher and founder of the pro-budget Committee for Excellence in Education. “And kids are asking: What happens now?”

Following the latest vote, Superintendent William Braun said SAD 48 could be out of money by the end of the month. Several of the district’s towns have decided to stop making payments to the schools until voters approve a budget, but Braun stressed schools would close only when there are no other options.

“(Budget opponents) can say it’s about taxes, but it’s not about taxes anymore,” Braun said. “Now it’s about this budget and whether we can do what we need to do for these kids.”

The latest vote was the closest of the six. The previous referendums lost by 2-to-1 margins.

School budget opponents say the solution to the impasse is simple: Cut the size of the budget or do a better job of explaining to taxpayers exactly where their money is going.

But they say that advice has been ignored by a school board intent on repeatedly offering an essentially unchanged $16.9 million budget to voters.

“They were told if they did that it would be voted down,” said Robert Goulette, a Newport resident and member of Committee for Reasonable Taxes group. “The money is not being appropriated in a proper manner. That’s what it boils down to.”

The school board’s Budget Committee was scheduled to meet Thursday night to hear public comment and look at a course of action to resolve the budget stalemate.

It will also consider what size budget to present for the next vote, and whether to call for a referendum or to use a town-meeting format, which would allow voters to haggle over spending until they reach consensus and approve a spending plan.

Budget supporters say voters would support the school board’s spending decisions if they truly understood the budget and all it contains. Rojas and others are urging the board to do a better job at communication.

“The board has a responsibility to get information out to the people,” Rojas said. “If (they) don’t, we’re going to have this whole thing all over again.”

AP-ES-03-11-04 0216EST