MINOT – Voters at Saturday’s town meeting approved a $3.85 million school budget, which includes $30,000 to remove classroom carpets and $46,000 to repave the parking lot.

In so doing, they backed School Committee plans to hire an additional teacher for middle school students while dropping the school’s music program for at least a year.

A motion to add $19,000 to pay for a part-time music teacher to keep the program alive failed by a vote of 46-33. This was despite first-grader Bradley Sperl’s efforts to convince townspeople otherwise as he greeted residents at the gymnasium door with stickers urging the money be put back for music.

Sperl was backed by his grandparents, Donna and Frank Berry, whose arguments were answered by School Committee Chairwoman Lisa Sabatine’s promise that a future town meeting will be asked to approve a well-developed, comprehensive music program.

Voters also cut $6,000 from a request to upgrade the library program by changing an education technician III position to a regular teacher position to offer a media research class.

Budget requests for the town office, highway, and fire and rescue departments remained intact as voters approved $1.3 million on the town side of the budget.

Approval of a new pickup truck for the highway department didn’t come easy. A motion to raise $11,800 resulted in a 34-34 tie and, in a revote, townspeople rejected a move to cancel outright the order for the pickup, 36-31.

Finally, listening to pleas that in a year the cost would be $20,000 or more, voters allocated $11,799 for the pickup by a vote of 49-20.

Voters went beyond the selectmen’s request to set $8,500 aside to buy and install an emergency generator to power the town garage, fuel pumps and the well that serves the school. They approved spending the entire $16,500 for it to be prepared now.

Voters also approved $50,000 for a regulation Babe Ruth ball field and parking lot at Minot Community Park, and $1,500 for the summer enrichment program.

Residents amended sections of the land-use code concerning subdivision standards and minimum street construction requirements, and accepted phase two of Fortin Drive as a town road.

Registrar of Voters Hester Gilpatric reported 100 residents attended the meeting.

Elected on Friday were Selectmen Steve French, 51 votes, and David Gilpatric, 52 votes, both for three years; and School Committee members Steve Holbrook, 46 votes, and Yvette Murray, 34 votes, both for three years.