The Gloucester County School Board adopted a $56.6 million operating budget for fiscal year 2017 during a work session last Thursday at the T.C. Walker Education Center.

The budget was adopted by a 5-2 vote, with board members Robin Rice and Jarret Lee objecting. Both said they were opposed to seeking a 6 percent raise for school employees while only a 5 percent raise is being considered for county staff.

The adopted budget was little changed from the FY2017 budget presented by school division superintendent Walter Clemons in a Feb. 16 budget session. It would still require a county contribution of $24.5 million, an increase of $1,359,375 over the current local share.

The budget calls for a 6 percent raise for all staff, as Clemons initially suggested. Unlike Clemons’s proposal last month, the adopted budget restores 10 days to the school calendar. His original fiscal plan restored only eight days. The plan adopted last week also had two additions to staffing recommendations m...