JAY – School Committee members have directed administrators to present a budget that’s $600,000 to $800,000 less than the existing $10.5 million 2007-08 budget.

The committee asked school officials to review items in a want-and-need process.

The board appeared to follow the process Thursday when it chose to fund only three stipend positions out of 14 requested relating to kindergarten through grade 12 curriculum area leaders and high school content area leaders.

In the past, the annual stipend for a K-12 curriculum leader was $1,300; a stipend for a high school content leader, similar to a department head, was $1,000.

Committee Vice Chairwoman Mary Redmond-Luce said they’ve asked administrators to make significant budget cuts in the budget for the coming school year. She also said she didn’t get answers from administration on whether the content leaders and curriculum leaders were needed or if they were something just nice to have.

Redmond-Luce said that it would be up to administrators to give educators time to do the work.

The committee took no action on 11 of the positions but did approve stipends in 2-to-1 votes, with Chairman Clint Brooks dissenting on each of the three, for K-12 curriculum area leaders for visual and performing arts, modern and classical languages and career preparation/industrial arts, who reportedly were needed for development of new curriculum to meet Maine Learning Results.

Several teachers mentioned that some curricula, such as for math, needs to be updated, as well, and that six early release days were eliminated this year.