Six people will run for four seats on the Butler School Board in the November election.

That is because with three incumbents not running in Tuesday’s primary, all candidates won in the school board race.

Al Vavro and David Korn won on both the Democratic and Republican tickets and Arthur Haag, who also cross-filed, won on the Democratic side.

On the Republican ballot, which had the only race, Vavro had 2,021 votes, while Korn got 1,842 tallies.

Other winners who did not cross file are Democrat Chas Tanner Jr. and Republicans Neil Convery and John Conrad, the lone incumbent who came away with the leading number of votes on the GOP side. Conrad won 2,094, or 22.41 percent of the Republican total. Convery got 1,748 Republican votes.

Incumbents Helene Abramowitz, Paula Opalka and Linda Patten finish their terms this year.

“I’m glad the voters were able to speak out,” Conrad said, having weathered a negative newspaper ad criticizing his voting record, which was paid for by fellow board members Jim Keffalas and Bill Halle.

“We’re in a temporary crunch,” Conrad said, referring to the state’s mandate regarding the Public School Employees Retirement System.

School districts statewide must raise their contributions about 4.5 percent annually until their contributions reach 30 percent of employee salaries.

“Any tax increase is regrettable,” Conrad said, referencing his vote Monday for a 2-mill property increase.

At the same time, he said it’s important that the district’s savings remain at about 8 percent of its expenditures. Under the state School Code, it cannot be more than that if the district raises taxes.

“If something really bad happened and we had to reopen the budget in the middle of the school year, it would be terrible if (the undesignated fund balance) wasn’t there,” he said. “You have to anticipate that bad things will happen sometime ... You have to have a cushion.”

Newcomer Al Vavro won the most votes overall, 3,566 on both ballots.

“I know the economic times are difficult,” said Vavro, who spent 37 years as an educator in the district, including 18 years as a principal at Northwest Elementary school.

Vavro said he is committed to ensuring that the quality of education stays the same, but that he does not want to raise taxes.

Instead, Vavro said he supports the facilities study the district plans to undertake. It could lead to a reconfiguration of the district’s elementary schools.

“Neighborhood schools are very expensive,” Vavro said, citing roofing and paving costs that will run about $1 million this summer.

Neighborhood schools also replicate services, he said. Instead, Vavro would like to focus on equalizing the numbers of students in elementary classrooms, even if that means some schools must close.

Class sizes in some high-enrollment schools like Center Township are larger than those in elementary schools with lower enrollments.

“I think there are ways to save money and to maintain a quality education in the district,” he said. “It’s not an easy task.”