With a resounding 'No,' Newburyport voters defeat $1.58m school override

By a wide margin, Newburyport voters defeated a proposed $1.58 million Proposition 2 1/2 tonight that would have funded the city's school system.

Some 3,286 voted against the measure, and 2,212 supported it.

If approved, the money would have been used to restore 18.5 positions cut from the budget for the upcoming school year, including five middle school teachers in the foreign language program, which was eliminated in the new budget. The funds also were earmarked to update the district's aging computers and technology and the 12-year-old literacy program in grades K-8.

Mayor John Moak was a prominent backer of the proposed tax increase.

-- Kay Lazar