LEWISTON – Spending approved by the Lewiston School Committee will mean free busing for high school students, a new culinary arts building near Lewiston High School, and pre-kindergarten programs at Farwell and Longley elementary schools.

The $44.46 million budget would increase the tax rate by 39 cents per $1,000 assessed property value, which means taxes would go up about $40 for a home valued at $100,000.

The school spending plan was approved unanimously Monday and is now before the Lewiston City Council.

The school budget “enables the school system to continue to support and enhance programs, and at the same time it also continues our work with the city and try and keep our taxes down,” Superintendent Leon Levesque said Tuesday.

What Lewiston taxpayers will spend on education – $14,870,306 – is actually less than what they spent in 2003.

“That’s not to say we haven’t tried to keep up. We have,” School Committee Chairman James Handy said Tuesday. But officials “are very much aware of the pressures” Lewiston taxpayers face, Handy said.

Handy said he was pleased with several steps Lewiston schools are taking, including providing free busing to high school students who live a certain distance away or live on busy streets where walking is not safe.

He said he’s hoping many students will take advantage and ride the bus next year. Providing busing helps energy conservation, reduces pollution, and relieves the high number of vehicles flooding East Avenue before and after school. It should also help families now paying 60 cents each way to ride the bus. “If you have a couple of kids it does become a fair amount of money,” Handy said.

The high school busing plan is expected to be finalized this summer. It may mean elementary school could begin 10 minutes later each day to accommodate more runs for middle and high school students, Levesque said.

The culinary arts program “is another great step forward” for students enrolled in the Lewiston Regional Technical Center culinary arts program, Handy said. “That program is bursting at the seams. This is an opportunity to expand the slots.”

The program provides ready workers to the local hospitality industry. Many graduates attend college majoring in culinary arts.

The new pre-kindergarten programs at Farwell and Longley will work with Head Start and Child Development Services to combine resources and staff. The state Department of Education is encouraging schools to begin teaching 4-year-olds in public schools to help more children be ready for kindergarten. The state reimburses schools for pre-kindergarten programs.

This year, the Lewiston School Department was in an unusual position in that it received more state education dollars, $2.8 million more, but in order to get that Lewiston taxpayers have to spend more, a minimum of $14.4 million.

If the city didn’t spend the state minimum on education, Lewiston would lose state money.

To help cover the higher amount taxpayers will have to spend on education, the school committee voted to give city hall the $250,000 school surplus, and take over $170,000 costs for maintaining athletic fields and providing crossing guards that the city hall budget had been covering.