FAIRFIELD -- Ten-and-a-half teaching positions will be cut in School Administrative District 49 in the upcoming budget to keep local property taxes in check, Superintendent Dean Baker said Friday.

In all, 18 positions are to be eliminated if voters approve the budget at the May 27 annual budget meeting, he said.

The proposed $23.49 million spending package must be approved by residents from Albion, Benton, Clinton and Fairfield.

A second vote, called a "validation referendum" will be held in all four towns on June 3, when residents will be asked if they support the action taken at the budget meeting.

The overall budget is up only 3 percent over the current year, or about $712,400 Baker said. Spending includes the purchase of two new school buses.

As for the cuts in teaching positions, Baker said half will come from the elementary level, with the other half coming at the secondary level.

"There are going to be significant staff reductions across the board," Baker said. "This is to control the amount of increase we ask taxpayers for. It's to try to create a livable budget."

Other positions to be cut will be three custodians districtwide, a bus driver, three special education technicians, and a half-time assistant principal's position at Lawrence Junior High School.

"We had intended to make the assistant principal a full-time position this year, and instead, the (position) will stay a half-time assistant principal and (athletic director), and (for) the other half he'll be working with an academic skills program with kids," Baker said.

Baker said the teaching assignments will be determined once the district knows exactly what student enrollment will be next academic year. He said the "bulge" in enrollment is now in the high school, meaning student numbers are higher there than in the lower grades, so more teachers will be needed there.

He said the administration recently settled on a new contract with the teachers' union, which accounts for some of the increases in salaries and some of the cuts to other areas of the budget.

"We're looking at programs and numbers before we make decisions on which positions are eliminated," he said. "We are attempting to create opportunities from problems. When we have resignations and retirements, if possible, we're going to assign remaining staff so nobody loses a job."

Baker said the state, under its essential programs and services model for school funding, is providing SAD 49 schools with $16.49 million, or $220,667 more than this year.

Baker said the object of the budget process was to "flat fund" as many categories as possible, meaning that spending would not increase except to accommodate salary and benefit increases and the soaring cost of fuel.

For example, he said the facility maintenance spending line for the coming year is up nearly $300,000 to just over $3.3 million, largely due to the price of fuel.

Baker said other budget lines, such as the transportation budget, appear to be at or below the "flat funding" goal, but in reality the figures disguise a shift in spending to another budget line, in this case, the line for regular education.

"All that 'transportation' shows is the cost of one trip to school and the one trip home daily that (the state spending formula) recognizes," Baker said, adding that the formula really does not reflect what it really costs to "run the place."

"The real cost is up significantly because every time the students go on a field trip or every time an athletic team goes anywhere, those costs are now part regular ed, special ed and co-curricular. The state said the intent is to create cost centers so they can accurately track cost.

"I think this is a good example of a good intention that doesn't work because it's more obscure, instead of clearer," Baker said.

Doug Harlow -- 861- 9244

dharlow@centralmaine.com