AUBURN – Some parents came to say the Auburn School Committee shouldn’t cut anything. They’ll pay more taxes.

Senior citizens and others said budget cuts should be made: Auburn has too many administrators, health benefits are too generous, and too much is spent on out-of-state conferences.

But taxpayers overwhelmingly said Tuesday night that the East Auburn Community School must not be closed.

School Committee Chairman David Das opened the meeting by explaining that in order to live with a budget that did not grow by more than 3 percent, about $660,000 would have to be cut. That kind of cut would require something drastic, such as closing the East Auburn school, eliminating sports at the Auburn Middle School and Edward Little, and eliminating several assistant principals.

At times the hearing was emotional. Two woman tried to hold back tears as they spoke against the school closing. Several blasted the school board for making the suggestion.

“This is an emotional ploy to get people upset,” said Brian Demers.

Applause followed just about everyone who spoke during the hearing.

A few spoke against cutting sports. Few if anyone spoke against cutting administrators.

Longtime Auburn resident Arthur Whitman said he was involved in creating the East Auburn school. “The East Auburn Community School is a small school for small kids, and small kids need to be in small schools,” he said.

Whitman asked everyone in the room and those in the hall who couldn’t come in because there was no room to raise their hand or stand if they wanted to keep the school open. Most stood or raised their hands.

Saying the school should not be closed, Whitman criticized the School Committee for not coming up with ways to cut spending. “I could come up with five or six myself without doing much homework.”

Compared to businesses, what Auburn spends for educators’ health benefits is too much, he said. He asked what educators pay for their health care. He was told 5 percent. “I think they ought to be paying 40 percent,” Whitman said.

Other taxpayers had no problem with a higher budget, saying education is too important.

If committee members are confident they have the right budget, “don’t cut anything,” said Laurie Tannenbaum. “I’m willing to pay the extra.”

Suzette Cyr said closing any school is shortsighted. In smaller schools children “are not treated as a number.” In modern society there’s a lost sense of community, she said. Through the Walton School, where her children attend, she has that sense of community.

“I pay taxes,” said Max Thompson. “It’s very difficult to pay taxes. But Auburn offers a lot of nice things. One is the East Auburn school.” Thompson has a first-grader at that school, and he hopes his toddler will be able to attend the school. “I don’t have any miraculous ideas on how you can save money.”

Others did have ideas.

Senior citizen Fred Sanborn said he can’t afford Auburn’s taxes. “One thing the school department needs to do is get out of the real estate business.” The department needs to get rid of non-school buildings “and put them on the tax rolls of Auburn.”

And, Sanborn said, “you need to talk about consolidation at the level of administration. There is no better time than to do it now” with Superintendent Barbara Eretzian leaving. “These are the things you should be talking about, not removing sports, not closing schools. … This is totally, absolutely unacceptable.”

Bill Murphy, who has an insurance agency on Center Street, suggested the school department put its health insurance out to bid. If it did, the school department would get a better rate, teachers would get a break and teachers would get good coverage.

Several parents spoke against cutting elementary guidance counselors, a budget cut recommended by City Councilor Ray Berube, who is the mayor’s representative on the school board. Berube said he was trying to come up with alternatives to closing a school and cutting sports, alternatives that were not coming from committee members.

The School Committee will continue budget deliberations at a 5:30 p.m. workshop today. That will be followed by the regular meeting at 7. The committee is expected to vote on a budget amount tonight and forward the school budget to the City Council.