Nahant selectmen approve second vote on schools override

The special election is scheduled for June 25.

If passed, the $260,000 override for the school system would increase the tax bill for the average home valued at $540,000 by $189.

By the time selectmen authorized the new election, the School Department already had issued 15 pink slips to employees, as parents and other residents galvanized to seek another shot at an override.

The petition, signed by 173 residents, sparked discussion that led to the Board of Selectmen’s 2-1 vote in favor of holding the special election.

Although it is not unusual for an override proposal to pass at Town Meeting and fail at the ballot box, the board cited confusion by some voters in its decision to schedule the new vote.

“The process of an override is not an easy process for lay people to go through, and some of the selectmen felt that some people thought they had voted at Town Meeting, and [did not need to vote] on the ballot,’’ Town Administrator Marc Cullinan said.

Some town officials also pointed to a difference in vote totals April 30 at Town Meeting — where it passed by 141 votes, 184 to 43 — and the townwide election the same day — where it failed by 52 votes, 417 to 365.

Although some people may be reluctant to oppose school-related overrides in the open forum of town meetings, Mickey Long, a former School Committee chairman who did not run for reelection, noted that this Town Meeting vote was by paper ballot.

Given the potential impact on the school system, which would include teacher layoffs and program cancellations, selectmen decided to call a second election.

Some voters told her they hadn’t seen the question on the ballot, said Lainey Titus, chairwoman of the Board of Selectmen.

“The big thing was that there was such a discrepancy between the votes at Town Meeting and the town election,’’ Titus said. “People at the Town Meeting heard the explanation of why there should be an override, and voted to support it by nearly 80 percent, and the town election vote was so close, I felt there wasn’t a clear message from the town.’’

Christine Kendall, chairwoman of the School Committee, said the override is necessary because of rising special-education costs coupled with the loss of $113,000 in state and federal aid to the district, which includes the 234-student elementary school and fees paid to the Swampscott School District for middle and high school students.

In addition to layoffs and supply cuts and the elimination of substitute teachers, activities for art and music would be eliminated without the override, Kendall said.

“We have fought really hard to get the school going in the right direction, and it really is,’’ said Kendall, who is in her fifth year as a School Committee member. She cited the leadership of Superintendent Philip Devaux, in partnership with the PTO and Nahant Education Foundation, for playing a role in the development of a five-year master plan.

A town seeking a Proposition 2 1/2 override for a second time after it’s already been defeated is unusual but not unprecedented, said Titus.