Voters overwhelmingly approved school budgets Tues., May 20, in both Columbia and Greene counties. As reported in the Register Star and The Daily Mail, voters in the Germantown Central School District passed that district's budget and a capital spending plan by nearly a four-to-one ratio and elected Jeremy Smith and Donald Coons to open seats on the Board of Education. The Hudson City School District's $45.2 million spending plan was approved by a wide margin with a final vote of 560-298. Voters also approved the sale of the former Greenport Elementary School to a private developer. Budgets for the Chatham, Ichabod Crane and New Lebanon school districts also passed, as did propositions offered by Ichabod Crane and New Lebanon. In Taconic Hills, challenger Nadine Gazzola edged out incumbent Harvey Weber to win a five-year term on the board. Weber will now serve out the remainder of Glenn Schermerhorn’s unexpired, three-year term. Spending plans in Catskill, Coxsackie-Athens and Hunter-Tannersville all passed easily. In the Cairo-Durham district, residents approved that district's $28.6 million spending plan, 529 to 433. The plan adopted by the Board of Education provided for housing pre-K through fifth grade at Cairo Elementary. That option did not allocate funding for the Durham Elementary School, but the board has yet to vote to formally close or limit its use. A public hearing on the future of the Durham building will be held 7 p.m., June 5.