BETHEL — The SAD 44 Finance Committee presented the full board Monday with a proposed $9.98 million budget that is $261,969 more than this fiscal year.
The 2012-13 spending plan is 2.69 percent higher than this year, Superintendent David Murphy said. There is addition state aid, $325,000 carried over because of a mild winter and less fuel usage and slightly more revenue from unorganized townships that send students to the district, he said.
Andover’s local share will rise by 2.8 percent; Bethel’s by 1.3 percent; Greenwood’s by 3.13 percent; Newry’s by 0.9 percent; and Woodstock’s will decrease by 0.2 percent.
Andover Elementary School will remain open, thanks in part to an additional $68,000 provided by that town, and no positions will be cut, including those that had been funded by the federal jobs act.
SAD 44 has an enrollment of 829 pupils and employs 166 professional and support staff.
The board will vote on the $9,989,269 budget at 7 p.m. May 7 at Telstar High School. A districtwide vote will be scheduled for late May, followed by a referendum in each town June 12.
In other matters, the board settled a three-year contract, which begins July 1, with the bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers and maintenance employees. Salary increases are 2 percent for the first year, 2.5 percent for the second and 3 percent for the third year.
The board also approved a class trip to Canobie Lake Park in Salem, N.H., for the Class of 2012 on June 6, and approved a policy that would grant Telstar High School diplomas to veterans of World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.
Those veterans would have had to have left school to join the military. Families of deceased veterans may also apply for diplomas.
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