After a vigorous campaign by two former school board members, they said no, by nearly a three-to-two ratio.

Under Act 1, the state property tax relief law passed last year, school districts must keep spending under an annual inflation cap. But there are exceptions, and one of them is for construction spending approved by voters.

So the school board in the affluent, high-achieving 4,120-student district, which is mostly in Chester County but partly in Delaware County, asked residents to approve a high school remake. That included more classrooms to replace modulars in the growing district, plus a larger cafeteria, a second gymnasium, a larger auditorium, synthetic turf fields and more space for the district administration, housed at the high school.

The vote was only the second in Pennsylvania on construction spending since Act 1 went into effect; the other, for a new high school in Montgomery County's Upper Dublin School District, was approved this spring.

The cost to the average Unionville-Chadds Ford taxpayer would have been between $9,500 and $10,100, over 20 to 25 years.

Former school board members Keith Knauss and Jeff Hellrung organized a group called Citizens for Efficient Education to oppose the project.

"We felt the plan that they were proposing was too lavish," Knauss said yesterday. "A lot of things they were proposing were only marginally beneficial to education - the second gym, the large auditorium, the turf fields and more activity rooms than needed."

Knauss said that if the district "comes back with a more modest plan without the unneeded amenities - the frills," Citizens for Efficient Education would urge voters to pass it at a future referendum.

The district plans to resubmit the unchanged proposal to voters next year.

"I'm going to continue along the lines of what I firmly believe is right for children," School Superintendent Sharon Parker said yesterday. "I believe the community will rally around the kids and around education."

There were some other significant votes and some surprises on Election Day.

In Chester County's Tredyffrin/Easttown district, for example, Democrat Karen Cruickshank was elected to a school board that had been all-Republican. And in Delaware County's Wallingford-Swarthmore School District, the GOP picked up a spot on a 7-2 Democratic majority board, with Michael Rinaldi unseating Vice President Jennifer Parker.

Delaware County's Penn-Delco School District elected former school board member John Green, who was charged last month with felony and misdemeanor conflict- of-interest charges for allegedly profiting from votes to approve district invoices from the company he works for. Green denied any wrongdoing but resigned the board; he said yesterday that he had no comment on what he would do now.

Another board member elected Tuesday, Margaret DiVito, was appointed to the board earlier this year but resigned in September, saying that if elected, she did not want to serve.

In Bucks County's Morrisville School District, a two-year battle over the construction of a new prekindergarten through 12th grade school complex that would cost at least $28.5 million appears to have come to a close. Six candidates opposed to the project won easily over three candidates who supported the new schools. After they take office in December, the new board majority is expected to block construction.

In many school districts, there was no contest at all in Tuesday's ballot, either because the winners were decided in a spring primary or because there were only enough candidates on the ballot to fill the vacant seats.

An Inquirer count showed that of the 142 school board elections Tuesday in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties, 90 - 63 percent - were uncontested. In at least three districts - Chester County's Avon Grove, Oxford and Octorara - there were open seats that no candidate contested, so the outcome was determined by write-in votes.

at 610-701-7638 or dhardy@phillynews.com.