MANCHESTER — The margin was closer, but the result was the same, as the city's public school principals have joined teachers in rejecting proposed contract concessions intended to stave off layoffs in the Manchester School District.

Thursday's vote by the Association of Manchester Principals was much closer than the result of balloting by teachers earlier in the week. On Wednesday, members of the Manchester Education Association rejected the proposed concessions by a 3-1 martin

Each union voted on proposed contract addenda calling for union members to pay more for health insurance premiums and co-payments. Teachers would have been eligible for enhanced early retirement incentives in an effort to shed the higher salaries paid more senior members of the workforce.

There are more than 50 members of the principal's union. The proposed budget now under consideration would cut nine-and-one-half assistant principal positions. One assistant principal would be cut in each of the seven secondary schools and assistant principals would be eliminated at elementary schools with enrollment of fewer than 500 students. The cuts would mean reduction of two-and-one-half elementary school assistant principal postions.

The Board of School Committee and Board of Mayor and Aldermen will meet separately Tuesday to discuss budget issues. No final decision on school spending is expected at either session, since proposed budget revisions may soon be in front of each board.

School Superintendent Thomas Brennan said he will be working on possible budget changes for school board consideration, but does not expect to have a final proposal ready for the meeting on Tuesday. Brennan said he may ask the board to extend the deadline for teachers to give notice of their intent to retire. The deadline was Dec. 31, but both Brennan and Ben Dick, president of the MEA, have said the budget situation makes an extension a logical idea.

Brennan also said that a proposal to use of some of the “expendable trust” money held by the school department is also be a possbility. The expendable trusts include budget surpluses from the current year and can only be spend on specific items. The proposed retirement incentives in the rejected contract revisions would have been funded in part by using the expendible trusts to free up tax money to pay the incentives. Legislation to streamline the process of retaining budget surpluses to spend in future years has cleared the state Legislature and is awaiting action by Gov. John Lynch. A spokesman said Friday that Lynch was reviewing the bill before deciding whether to sign it.

Meanwhile, Ward 1 Alderman Joyce Craig said she is working with other members of the board on an alternative to Gatsas' budget proposal.

Brennan and Craig both said they did not expect to have budget revision proposals finalized by Tuesday.

Gatsas has said that he would listen to any proposals for resolving the budget issue, but has been standing behind the budget that he filed that includes $150 million for schools, which is $2 million than the budget requested by the school board.