LEWISTON — The Lewiston School Committee on Monday night passed a 2011-12 school budget 2.5 percent higher than the existing one, but it will not raise property taxes.

The $52.5 million budget is up from the existing $51.2 million budget.

The biggest increase is $1 million more for special education due to growing student numbers, and a need for more specialized, expensive out-of-district placement.

The budget also authorizes a $50,000 study of special education programs to ensure Lewiston is getting the best bang for its buck, and to see if special education delivery can be improved, educators said.

And unlike many school systems in Maine that are cutting positions due to shrinking student populations, Lewiston is hiring.

The budget calls for 13 more teachers and education technicians to teach a growing student population in early grades, the middle grades and English Language Learners.

Lewiston’s school system has 4,940 K-12 students. That number is expected to grow by 129 this fall. Within that, Lewiston’s ELL population of 995, now about 20 percent of students, has 31 more than last year.

Those new positions will help keep class sizes, particularly the early grades, from becoming too large, said committee member Paul St. Pierre. While offering some growth in programs, the budget would have “no impact on the mill rate,” which was one of the committee’s goals, St. Pierre said.

The bigger budget won’t raise taxes because Lewiston is getting $1.3 million more from the state. That increase is because the student population is growing, the city’s property valuation went down, and Gov. Paul LePage put more money for education in the state budget.

Committee Chairman Jim Handy called Lewiston’s school budget one that was “carefully crafted to meet our obligations, and in some cases exceeds them, for the young people in Lewiston.”

This fall, there will be a new disciplinary program at the Montello Elementary School to house suspended students so they will no longer be kicked out of school for misbehaving. The pilot program would be a self-contained classroom where students would do their work, and be counseled on appropriate behavior.

When students are suspended “they’re not getting their education, and idle time opens them up for other activities,” Handy said.

Also in the budget is a new diesel engine program at the Lewiston Regional Technical Center that will teach new technology and turn students out prepared for higher education in careers in demand, Handy said.

And pre-K classes will revert back to half-day programs instead of all-day programs this fall. The extra cost will be $60,000 for more busing costs. The full day was proving to be too long for four-year olds, said Superintendent Bill Webster.

To keep taxes flat, committee members Monday night had to cut $200,000 from an earlier proposed budget. The biggest item on that list of cuts was the elimination of a new automated time-clock system, which would have cost $60,000.

Superintendent Webster said the time-clock system would be for hourly employees, which does not include teachers. Hourly employees now fill out their time worked “on an antiquated, paper system,” which he called inadequate.

But given the needs of students, Webster said the time clock system can wait. “We will get to it,” he promised.

All committee members voted for the budget Monday except for Paul Dumont, who abstained.

After the meeting, Dumont said he abstained because he disagreed that the $50,000 to evaluate special education in Lewiston is needed. The money would be better spent on the $60,000 time clock system, he said.

“I’ve seen instances where people sometimes fudge their time,” Dumont said. “To me, this is more important.”

The school budget now goes to the Lewiston City Council, then to voters for consideration in a May 10 referendum.

[email protected]