JAY – Voters approved a $9.85 million school spending plan in a 319-160 vote Tuesday. They also agreed to raise and appropriate $1.98 million in additional local funds to pay for textbooks, personnel, activities and other educational items by a vote of 308-172.

Voters also elected Marga Hutchinson as a School Committee member with 270 votes over former board Chairman Clint Brooks, who received 197. Hutchinson will fill a one-year position left open in June after Joel Pike resigned.

Of the town’s 3,713 registered voters, 484 cast ballots, Town Clerk Ronda Palmer said Tuesday.

It was the second time voters went to the polls to tackle school budget articles for fiscal 2007-2008. They previously rejected the two articles that voters approved Tuesday.

Administrators and School Committee members revised the dollar amounts in the articles and sent them back to voters after making reductions and offsets.

The new budget is $614,403 less than last year’s budget and $110,182 less than the $9.96 million budget voters rejected in June.

Savings in the approved budget were gained by using $83,000 from the health insurance reserve account, $28,350 less in budgeted heating costs due lower oil price of $2.09 a gallon, $543 reduction in the substitute account, eliminating $14,000 that was in the budget to buy a bus which voters rejected, using $10,000 from the curriculum reserve to offset assessments and cutting $27,473 from the administrative line.