MECHANIC FALLS – Elm Street School is facing cuts in staff and programs even with the possibility of raising property taxes.

About 50 teachers, parents, and students showed up at the school Thursday for what was scheduled as a budget workshop to advocate for saving the jobs of two to four teachers. Even raising taxes by two mills, which would put Mechanic Falls over $30 per $1,000 of assessed property value, would still result in staff cuts, according to information provided by school administration. By raising the tax rate by one mill, the school budget revenue would increase by about $87,000.

“That’s why our mill rate is so high,” said School Committee Chairman Dan Blanchard. “It’s because we need the money. We’re not like other towns where one mill can raise up to $300,000.”

The question left for members of the School and Budget committees is how deep to make the cuts and how high to raise taxes before presenting their budget at town meeting May 18.

“Proposing these cuts was not an easy thing to do,” said Mary Martin, principal of the kindergarten through eighth-grade school. “This has been the most difficult budget in years.”

The Elm Street School budget normally relies on the state for about 70 percent of its funding, said Martin. As of this week, the school is expected to receive $56,000 less than it did last year. And while the school is supposed to receive from federal sources $3,500 per student receiving special education services, students in Mechanic Falls receive about $900.

“A lot of our problem is that the state makes promises and then doesn’t give us the funding,” said School Committee member David Griffiths. “It’s not just stinginess on our part.”

Additional costs this year in special education services, personnel benefits, and tuition to Poland Regional High School put the first draft of the school budget at more than $400,000 over last year’s $4.3 million. That amount would have resulted in a local tax increase of five mills.

School Committee members redirected administrators to propose a budget that would only increase the tax rate by one mill. That budget would result in an approximately $50,000 increase. It would also mean losing a classroom teacher, the Technology Education teacher and program, a teacher’s aide, a bus driver, and about $100,000 in lacking equipment, books, supplies, and building maintenance. The school’s principal and assistant principal have rejected raises for themselves.

“After seeing all of this, I don’t want to decide anything tonight,” said Budget Committee Chairman Carl Beckett. “But let’s be honest. We can nickel and dime the supplies, but there’s no money there. The only place where there’s any money is where there’s people involved.”

Several parents and students urged the committees not to cut the technology education class and cited the value it provided to students not normally inclined to excel academically.

“I tend not to get my homework done, and my grades are kind of shot,” said Levi Plourde, a seventh-grader. “But in tech ed, I get all 100s. It helps me stay focused on school more.”

“I don’t think you should take the tech ed program away,” said Tom Gary, also a seventh-grader. “All of the boys wait all day for that period because Mr. (Norman) Parks is so awesome.”

Yvon Gilbert, a member of the town’s Budget Committee and engineer by profession, also championed the technologies class.

“Technology is the future,” said Gilbert. “These are the people who are going to have jobs. I am willing to have these young ones educated. It’s the best money spent there is.”

The proposed budget also could cut the Gifted and Talented program teacher to a half-time position and possibly a teacher in grades K-3 or 4-6, depending on the fall enrollment.

“With raising the taxes by one mill and seeing what we would lose, I just couldn’t live with this budget,” said School Committee member Terry Arsenault. “I need to advocate for two mills. It wouldn’t give us everything we need, but we would be closer.”

Given the choice of raising taxes by one to three mills, the majority of School Committee and Budget Committee members favored the two-mill increase. A show of hands from the public attending also supported a hike of two mills.

Members of the two committees will meet at 6:30 p.m. March 25 at the school before making their final budget recommendations.

“Part of the reason we asked for only a one mill increase is that we’ve been told by the town that that’s what they want,” said Arsenault. “But I haven’t seen the same faces at town meeting that I see tonight. Town meeting is where you can make a difference.”