Squeezed between cuts in state funding and rising fuel costs, SAD 52 has been forced to make cuts and creative realignments of several positions while adding about $400,000 to the combined tax burdens of its three towns, Greene, Leeds and Turner.

SAD 52 Chairwoman Elizabeth Bullard said putting together the 2008 budget that was approved Thursday was "a very challenging process."

Bullard said the cuts in state funding totaled between $350,000 and $400,000 when cuts to education, transportation and other areas are figured in.

Add to that a combined increase in diesel fuel and heating oil topping $110,000 over last year.

Several positions were cut, including two bus drivers, two assistant cooks, an assistant superintendent and two retiring elementary school teachers who won't be replaced this year. Some new positions have been created in a leaner reorganization of the district.

For example, the assistant cook positions have been replaced by several kitchen helpers, who perform similar duties and whose hours will be limited to when they are most needed, such as during mealtimes.

The assistant superintendent position has been replaced by a curriculum coordinator, who will take on some of the former position's duties, while others will be relegated to other administrators.

Some elementary school teachers may be assigned to different grades to even out class sizes.

The two cut bus driver positions may mean longer bus routes, but the district will redraw existing routes using software to make more efficient use of the buses, saving on diesel costs.

"Anything that involves position cuts is never easy, but we have to continue to use the taxpayers' money wisely," Bullard said. She said the district has been budgeting responsibly, keeping taxes from going up and sometimes lowering them. "It wasn't that there was a lot of fat to trim out of the budget to begin with."

But the reduced state funding and higher fuel cost have driven a 1.3 percent budget hike, from $21,943,274 in 2007-08 to $22.249,337 in 2008-09.

Bullard said cuts from the state were meant to bring tax relief, but they've come at an unfortunate time of rising costs for schools, and that despite the district's cuts, the district has to go to the property taxpayers of Greene, Leeds and Turner to make up some of the difference.

The school board solicited input from selectmen in the three communities, Bullard said, so there was help in making the hard decisions. "With the budget situation the way it is and the economic times the way they are, we were very fortunate that we had pretty active feedback from the selectmen of the three towns, and from the community members as well."