BERNE — In a heated race, Berne Highway Superintendent Randy Bashwinger has won the sole open seat on the Berne-Knox-Westerlo School Board by 44 votes, a mere 5 percent of the total votes.

“I was definitely surprised,” said Bashwinger. “I knew it was going to be a close race.”

Bashwinger ousted incumbent Lillian Sisson-Chrysler, who has served one three-year term after being elected in an uncontested race in 2015. She could not be reached before press time.

Voters also overwhelmingly passed a $23 million budget, 583 to 285; and a $400,000 bus proposition, 620 to 242. The budget will bring a 1-percent tax levy increase, as well as new programs such as full-day pre-kindergarten and the continuation of an afterschool program. At its last meeting before the vote, the school board agreed to hire a school resource officer.

District Clerk Denise Robinson said Wednesday that the vote totals include 39 absentee ballots.

“It was very close,” said Bashwinger. “And Lillian, she is a great lady. She’s worked hard there; obviously, it will be some pretty big shoes to fill.”

Bashwinger said that he is looking forward to addressing, along with the rest of the board, issues like special education, security, and the upcoming capital project. Bashwinger said he hopes that his prior experience in the building industry combined with that of board vice president Nathan Elble’s, who is a union electrician, will benefit the capital project.

Last year, Bashwinger ran against Elble in a five-way race for three seats, but came in fourth.

Bashwinger, who is also Berne’s Republican chairman, said that this year’s race was hotly contested, although it was not divided on party lines, but on different factions supporting one candidate over the other.

“You could see it on social media … ,” he said. “No matter how you look at it, it’s still an election; it’s political.”

Four of the five board members wrote letters to The Enterprise editor in support of Sisson-Chrysler. The fifth, Helen Lounsbury, had come under sharp criticism from the board president, Matthew Tedeschi, who wanted to do away with the board’s handbook after Tedeschi said Lounsbury went against it because she had called The Enterprise to report an incident the district had termed a threat. Lounsbury has supported the use of the handbook for hiring practices at the district.

Lounsbury went on to cite an assertion by Robert Freeman, director of the state’s Committee on Open Government, that board members have a responsibility to express themselves on matters of public concern and controversy. The other four board members then scrapped the idea of doing away with the handbook entirely, and voted instead to have a lawyer review it.

Bashwinger said that there had been assertions that he had ran for the position for political gain, which he denies.

“I have a reason I wanted to run for the school board,” he said. He noted that he has four children enrolled in the district.

Bashwinger said he respects Sisson-Chrysler and her family, adding that their children play sports together.

“It was a shock, actually,” he said of her defeat. “I thought Lillian would actually win.”