SHARON

Sharon City School Directors voted unanimously Monday to use additional state money the district received this month to restore several positions cut from the budget.

Directors reopened the 2002-03 school budget to spend the additional $284,400 to pay for positions and programs that were trimmed before the budget was passed in June.

The state requires final school budgets to be passed by June 30. In July, lawmakers in Harrisburg approved a budget that increased funding for all Pennsylvania school districts, and directors had to reopen their respective budgets to account for the windfall.

The money will be used to pay for half of a middle-senior high school music teacher, an elementary special position, an alternative education program aide and two and a quarter elementary special teachers, Business Manager James Wolf said. He said a "special" position is someone who teaches a class like art or music.

The money is also being used to reinstate an after-school tutoring program, Wolf said.

The additional state money could only be used to restore programs and teaching positions, pay down debt or provide tax relief. The money could not be used to inflate a district's reserve fund balance.

Resident Pedro Calleja said he thought the board could have "at least given the taxpayers back a mill" of taxes.

"I'm really glad the state didn't give you $5 million because you probably would have found a way to spend it," Calleja said.