MEXICO — A $5.48 million state grant for construction projects at Region 9 School of Applied Technology won overwhelming approval from voters Tuesday. The tally was 8,721 to 963.

Sixteen towns send students to the center, which plans to use the Maine Department of Education grant to pay for building projects for welding, culinary arts and outdoor skills and leadership programs.

The tallies by town were: Rumford, 2,051-200; Mexico, 857-118; Roxbury, 171-48; Hanover, 148-30; Bethel, 1,324 to 121; Newry, 225-10; Woodstock, 626-68; Greenwood, 435-43; Dixfield, 985-102; Canton, 399-50; Carthage, 197-35; Peru, 713-52; Andover, 421-62; Byron, 82-9; and Gilead, 87-15.
Results from Upton were not available Wednesday.

Region 9 is one of 27 career and technical education schools in Maine and one of the four to receive grants from the DOE’s state fiscal recovery funds, school Director Brenda Gammon said earlier this month.  The others are Oxford Hills Technical School in Paris, Biddeford Regional Center for Technology, and Region 3 Northern Penobscot Tech in Lincoln.

At a Nov. 1 public informational meeting about the grant funds, Gammon said the school is seeking to establish a four-season, outdoor education center with water access, and as a second project, a classroom and lab space for the welding program. There are 19 students in the metal trades program, which is three times the number since last year, Gammon said.

“We’re looking for a new, larger space that would be outfitted with up-to-date equipment that would support them . . . to develop their skills in this area,” she said.

A third project would enhance the culinary arts program by adding a greenhouse and an outdoor kitchen that includes open-flame cooking areas, a smoker, grills and food preparation areas.

The projects would be funded entirely by the grant, Gammon said.