Voters in Bath, Woolwich, Phippsburg and Arrowsic approved a $47.7 million Regional School Unit 1 budget for the upcoming fiscal year on Election Day Tuesday.

The budget passed with 3,872 “yes” votes from the four communities to 1,087 “no”s. All four communities approved the budget.

The newly adopted school budget is expected to raise taxes by nearly 9% in Woolwich, 7.3% in Bath, and just over 3% in Arrowsic. Phippsburg’s contribution to RSU 1 will decrease by roughly 1.3%.

School spending is up about $2 million compared to the previous fiscal year. The big spending drivers this budget season included rising special education costs, increased insurance premiums and wages and some contracted services, Superintendent Patrick Manuel said in April.

This year’s school budget eliminates, reduces to part-time or doesn’t fill some positions. These include one science teacher, one custodian and one world language teacher. Some other positions, including a librarian, have been replaced with education technicians. The district will add three ed techs and a finance assistant.