AUBURN – To keep from losing school resource officers and other student services, the School Committee asked city councilors Wednesday to allow them to spend more.

Committee members asked for permission to put money for services back in the budget, including tech coaches, facility maintenance, language teachers, the Auburn Land Lab and school resource officers.

Those programs were on the cut list since councilors said the budget couldn’t increase more than 1.8 percent from this fiscal year.

Some programs, including library aides and two school resource officers, are back in the budget after the budget cap was determined by local taxpayer money, not overall revenue growth. The cut list still includes possible two language teachers and shifting costs of school resource officers to the city.

If the budget only grows by 1.8 percent, programs would be cut because of rising expenses, including special education and pay raises,  Superintendent Katy Grondin said.

Most of the programs poised for cuts could stay if the committee got the 3 percent increase it asked for.

A 3 percent increase would mean property taxes on a $150,000 home would rise by $43 a year; versus $27 a year for an 1.8 percent increase.

Grondin passed out data that show Auburn spends less per student than other cities. Last year’s per-pupil spending was $9,998 in Auburn; $11,107 in Lewiston; and $13,662 in South Portland.

Four city councilors gave mixed reactions to a 3 percent increase. Belinda Gerry and Leroy Walker said taxpayers could only afford 1.8 percent more, while Robert Hayes and Mary LaFontaine seemed open to more spending.

If the budget is sent to voters with more than an 1.8 percent increase, “I don’t think voters are going to pass it,” Walker said. “You may feel comfortable with what it is you say you need … but I don’t think the poor people in this city can afford our education.”

One way to support a bigger school budget is to ask those who can afford it to pay more for education, Walker said. “I don’t know how we can pass that in a law, but I hear people say all the time” they’d pay more.

Cuts are hard, Walker said. Interim City Manager Howard Kroll proposed a city budget with an 1.8 percent increase. “That’s what I expected to see from you people. … I won’t vote in favor of increasing over 1.8 (percent).”

“I agree with Councilor Walker,” Gerry said. A way should be found to ask those who can pay more to do so to protect taxpayers who can’t.

“Groceries, medicine and heating, those are things you’ve got to do,” Gerry said. “Most of us councilors have a heart in trying to do what’s right for everybody.”

Grondin said a free and appropriate public education is one paid for by property taxes, that how much people spend is already proportionate. “Not every home is $150,000, some homes are $50,000” and would pay less.

Robert Hayes said when education isn’t properly funded, “we’re going to continue to go down hill” losing more middle-class families, leaving a community of poorer citizens with greater needs.

“Schools are providing much greater services than they did 30 or 40 years ago,” Hayes said. “We’re going to have to look at the 1.8 cap,” what the school should put in the budget “to move forward.”

LaFontaine said Auburn has to compare what it spends on education to other cities “to see if we’re on track.”

The data show what Auburn spends is low. “If we are going to invest in our city, which means we want to attract businesses, part of that is having an education system that is valued,” she said.

The School Committee will vote on the budget May 6, followed by the council vote. The public referendum is June 9.

bwashuk@sunjournal.com

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