AUBURN — After nearly four months of deliberations, the School Committee appears ready to present a 2020-21 budget to the City Council.

The $45.8 million spending plan was unofficially approved by a unanimous show of thumbs-up during a Zoom meeting Wednesday night. The committee’s official vote will take place June 3.

“We’ve all done lots and lots and lots of work and we are asking for a budget that is as fiducially responsible as possible and will still allow for a high-quality education,” committee Chairwoman Karen Mathieu said.

Because of the economic impact of the state’s COVID-19 stay-at-home order, the committee worked to reduce the budget by $1.9 million to reflect no local tax increase.

Superintendent Katy Grondin said after the meeting Wednesday that she had hoped to maintain all positions, but that was not possible.

“This was a compromise,” she said. “We wanted to have as little impact on programming for students as possible. But there’s a balance. We have to support the community in this COVID-19 crisis.”

Cuts included 12 new positions and eight current positions.

But “everyone in a position will have a position,” Grondin. Some people will be moved to vacant positions and some vacant positions will remain so.

Aspirations director Jim Horn, whose position was eliminated earlier in budget talks, was reinstated when he agreed to a pay reduction by working 190 days instead of 215.

Positions that will remain vacant are a literacy coach at Sherwood Heights Elementary School, a gifted and talented position and an Edward Little High School teacher.

“I think we did some things for the short term that will have long-term effects,” Grondin said.

Members Dan Poisson and Brian Carrier, the City Council representative to the School Committee, last week raised the issue of spending too much of the fund balance, money that is held for emergencies.

About $970,000 from the fund was used to balance the budget, leaving less than the recommended amount of 3% of the total budget.

That would be about $1.35 million. The amount that will be left in the fund is between $900,000 and $1 million, according to Business Manager Adam Hanson.

Poisson said Wednesday he was still concerned about taking so much money from savings, but he agreed to support the budget.

Carrier said he had met with Hanson and was no longer concerned.

Carrier said he was assured the fund balance “will get back to the ballpark.”

He added, “From my standpoint, (it’s OK) as long as we’re getting back to that. We may need to discuss in the future where everybody thinks the fund balance should be and how to maintain it.”

Once the School Committee officially votes on the superintendent’s budget, it will go the City Council for a vote. If the council approves it, the budget will go to city voters July 14.

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