With a vote of 2 to 1, Garden City residents overwhelmingly approved this year's school budget.

Garden City fell in line with the majority of Long Island Schools during our version of "Super Tuesday," with all but three districts passing their budgets.

This year's budget comes in at just under $50 million at an increase of a little over 3 percent.

The biggest increase in this year's budget came under the area of instruction, which includes administration and teacher's salaries.

According to a news release, the majority of the 1999-2000 budget, 76 percent goes toward program costs. This section of the budget includes classroom instruction, special education and community activities.

The vote of 1,654 in favor to 817 opposed also approved a capital budget of over $6 million, which covers 13 percent of the total budget. It includes items such as employee benefits, transportation and maintenance.

The administration is the final section of the $49,968,693 budget attributing a total of 9.98 percent. With an attribution of over $4 million, the administration portion serves board of education, curriculums and legal and financial costs.

In addition to the budget, new board member Kevin Monaghan was elected. Monaghan represents the Central Section of the Village.