Rockland County, NY – Following a highly contentious election season, voters in the East Ramapo school district Tuesday voted down a 2010-11 budget proposal of $198 million, rejecting a potential 10 percent tax increase and leaving the district with the option of accepting an austerity budget.

In voting for the one contested seat on the school board, residents elected Moses Friedman of Spring Valley over Antonio Luciano of Chestnut Ridge, padding an already solid majority of Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish men on the board.

The vote occurred a week before other school district votes to accommodate those celebrating Shavuot, the Jewish holiday commemorating the giving of the Torah to Moses, which will begin Tuesday.

If the district were to move toward an austerity budget, additional staffing, programs and other cuts totaling about $5.6 million will be necessary, further depleting the resources of the already-strapped East Ramapo schools.

[Moses Friedman, 7,851 Antonio Luciano, 7,500]

(Read More: LoHud.com)