The years may change, but the sentiments stay the same.

That’s Ray Berube’s assessment of the Auburn School Committee, a board that he served on decades ago, in a district that educated his six children. The retired Berube is the Auburn City Council’s designated liaison to the committee, and now one of its sharpest critics.

A critic, because earlier this week the committee rejected his – and all other – proposals to trim the Auburn school budget, and enacted a version carrying a 5 percent increase to taxpayers, the estimated equivalent of about $22 on a $100,000 home, but a figure expected to increase with revaluation.

Berube, and many others, felt administration was the right target for the School Committee. The committee, on the other hand, foresaw wholesale cuts to athletics, and perhaps the East Auburn School, as a requirement to balance the budget. In the end, none of these scenarios came to pass.

Business as usual, according to Berube. We’ve got a sneaking suspicion, too, since by predicting doomsday situations such as school closures, the School Committee avoided the more difficult analyses – such as weighing the need for certain administrative positions – that could have trimmed the budget.

It was shortsighted for the school committee to declare “the people had spoken” for the budget that was passed, when a sizable portion of the community also supported the spending cuts propelled by Berube, and others.

And offering to “restate” the duties of administrators whose necessity were questioned was also a smoke screen tactic; the public deserves solid rationale for the spending of their school district, not a re-shuffling of the deck to conjure new reasons to spend the same money.

It’s little wonder Gov. John Baldacci has made reducing school administration the vanguard of his assault to conquer tax relief. It appears school districts, like Auburn, are unable – or unwilling – to undertake this kind of uncomfortable self-analysis themselves.

Auburn’s school budget is now before the City Council, which includes Berube, for review and confirmation; the board cannot change specific items in the budget, but it can recommend overall reductions in the bottom line.

We wouldn’t be surprised if they do. The School Committee stifled the concerns of many residents.

Perhaps the City Council will speak for them.