FARMINGTON – The SAD 9 directors agreed Tuesday night to retain two literacy teachers for elementary grades as they continued to deliberate on a budget for the next school year.

The proposed budget for 2008-09 stands at $24 million, which is $232,942 more than this fiscal year. The 16 positions put on the cutting block were down to 14 after the board decided to keep the literacy teachers.

“Can we afford to take away the support (of literacy teachers) or not?” asked Yvette Robinson of Farmington. “The answer is no. We are not excelling at literacy.”

Directors agreed to keep both, who had been based at the W.G. Mallett School in Farmington and the Gerald D. Cushing School in Wilton on two conditions: the district strive for more parity in its distribution of literacy teachers for grades K-2; and use money saved from the elimination of a half-time high-school-level literacy position that is currently unfilled to help lessen the cost of keeping the two elementary teachers.

Foreign language classes for elementary school students was another issue for the board Tuesday night.

The draft budget called for cutting a full-time foreign language teacher for grades one to six to part-time, which would drop the number of language positions from 3 to 2.

Instead, directors, upon recommendation of elementary school teachers, voted to eliminate one entire position and have elementary foreign language classes only in grades three to six. They also decided to move toward having Spanish as the only language offered.

Directors will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 29, in the Mt. Blue High School library to continue work on the budget.

Among the proposals, so far, are eliminating:

• One classroom teacher at Weld Elementary School;

• Two teachers in the special education program;

• Two computer integrators in grades K-8;

• One teacher in the forestry program at Forster Regional Applied Technology Center in Farmington;

• Assistant director of support services in the transportation department;

• One bus driver/maintenance worker;

• Two-day custodians, one at W.G. Mallett School in Farmington and the other at Cape Cod Hill School in New Sharon;

• One bus driver;

• One lube technician at the bus garage;

• One education technician III in the alternative education program at Mt. Blue Middle School in Farmington; and

• The contracted flute teacher in the music program.

Positions that would be reduced from full-time to half-time include:

• an elementary foreign language teacher;

• a health teacher at Mt. Blue Middle School;

• a family and consumer science teacher (home economics) at Mt. Blue Middle School;

• an English teacher at Mt. Blue High School; and

• a business education teacher at Mt. Blue High School.