Crying foul on the Old Rochester Regional School Committee Marion Selectmen sought to present “correct information” regarding the controversial school budget.

Selectmen spoke out on Tuesday, one day after more than 100 people came to an ORR School Committee meeting to show their support for the budget.

“The School Committee has done a great job with their propaganda machine,” said Selectmen Chair Jody Dickerson. “They’re entitled to their own opinion, but they’re not entitled to their own facts.”

The School Committee's original budget had a 4.6 percent increase, almost $835,000. Tri-town leaders said they could contribute increase the budget by $320,000, which did not sit well with the School Committee members.

“It really is the towns’ responsibility,” Committee Chair Tina Rood said on Monday. “Next year will we find ourselves in the exact same spot?”

But the problem goes back to teacher contracts negotiated last spring, said Dickerson.

“We told them to only do a two percent pay raise,” he said. “All other town employees only got two percent.”

Dickerson explained that teachers received three percent increases, some four.

“This was such an avoidable situation and then to throw it to the media and the parents as if we’re here to take away something that we didn’t cause…that is not fair,” chimed in Selectman Steve Gonsalves.

The junior high music program was one of the areas at risk with the lower budget. While the School Committee voted to accept more out of district students through the school choice program (resulting in $5,000 of tuition per student) to preserve programs on the chopping block, Dickerson said tri-town Selectmen did fund the music program.

“The School Committee has decided to use that money for something else, not what we appropriated it for,” he said.

Sheila Gibbons, a parent whose son will be at the junior high next year, questioned why there has been so much controversy.

“We are not a poor town. We are not a poor district,” she said.

Gibbons stressed the need to support teachers. Selectmen agreed that was important, and stressed the need to get more information from the School Committee.

“Please get both sides of the story,” said Gonsalves. “Let’s take the emotion train and derail it.”