BINGHAM -- SAD 13 school board members Tuesday night started the process of revising their 2009-10 budget proposal after voters rejected the plan last month.

Both School Superintendent Kenneth Smith and board chairman Brian Malloy described the meeting as productive in terms of identifying key areas to explore to reduce costs.

At the same time, the board left without setting a date to reconvene, as well as no time schedule for both a second district budget meeting and budget validation referendum.

"I'm hoping that we can vote on (the budget) again and get it resolved by the end of July," Malloy said.

Smith said school officials plan to study whether revamping the academic schedule at Upper Kennebec Valley High School would enable the district to reduce staffing.

The per-pupil cost at the high school is $16,420, or about $6,000 higher than the state average.

Smith, however, said when Valley is compared to high schools of comparable size -- fewer than 100 students -- the numbers tell a different story.

"We took all the schools in the state with fewer than 100 students," he said, "and the average cost per pupil is a little over $17,000."

Nevertheless, Smith said, school officials will have to decide whether it's practical to run high school programs that have small student enrollment.

On the other hand, he said, any decision to eliminate a teacher cannot focus solely on that teacher's formal academic responsibilities.

"When you lose a staff member," he said, "you have to look at the other things they do. Do they coach? Do they do drama? In a small school when you lose somebody, you often lose somebody who does a lot of other things."

Athletics is another area the board is examining for possible cuts.

A 10 percent reduction is one goal being considered.

Smith said SAD 13 spends about $90,000 annually on athletics.

"Cut 10 percent of that," he said, "and that is $9,000 cut from your budget."

Malloy doesn't see that as a huge help in controlling costs, but then added that any reduction helps.

"It is not easy," he said.