TURNER — Sixteen voters turned out at the Leavitt Area High School auditorium Thursday night and passed next year’s $28.3 million school budget as proposed, according to Superintendent Kimberly Brandt.

The next step for the budget is the May 20 validation referendum at polling places in Turner, Greene and Leeds.

While it has a year-over-year increase of 0.85%, next year’s budget has a larger overall tax impact of 3.64% due to decreased state funding.

In Greene, that means an increase of 3.25% over this year. It will be 3.39% more for Turner and an additional 5.06% for Leeds.

“The budget includes a half-time prekindergarten teacher and half-time prekindergarten educational technician II at Turner Primary School while also maintaining current staffing, which is critical as we focus on learning recovery moving forward,” said Brandt.