Town Meeting voters passed the proposed $23,352,119 budget on Monday night, but not without some discussion on the high school's assessment.

Old Rochester Regional High School member Cindy Johnson got up to speak about the $5.4 million assessment for the school, which she said came after tri-town Selectmen requested two rounds of cuts. The cuts were at the expense of several proposed teaching positions, classes and class sizes, she said.

With uncertain state aid going forward, Johnson said, “There will be a greater need for support from the three communities next year and in the years ahead.”

Town Administrator Mike Gagne responded that several departments experienced increases, including health insurance and solid waste disposal costs, that had to be taken into account. He also said that schools take up 60 percent of the town’s budget.

Resident and parent Elizabeth Milde said she was worried about the school budget and the effect on increasing class sizes, some which are 30 or more.

“I have a big concern, especially for the ORR budget, which is always the step child in the education field,” she said.

Resident Martin Hudis questioned if the funding for schools was a trend.

“The school budget seems to be going up faster than we can raise the funds,” he said.

Selectman Paul Silva, a former ORR School Committee member, said the budget requires two of the three towns to approve it.

He added, “It isn’t always money that solves problems. You have to look at every department: Are we using every dollar as we should be? I think we are doing a pretty good job on that.”

The budget is a 3.2 percent increase over the current budget.

The vote passed 208 to 2.