The proposed budget calls for the reduction of 10 teaching positions, a guidance counselor, 3 teacher aids and 2 tutors.
LUDLOW — Interim School Superintendent Donna Hogan on Monday night presented a proposed fiscal 2013 School Department budget which shows a decrease of 2 percent, or $579,013, less than the fiscal 2012 budget.
Hogan’s proposed fiscal 2013 school budget is $28,715,818.
The School Committee will meet Thursday at 7 p.m. at Baird Middle School to discuss the budget request. Final approval of the proposed budget will be by the voters at the May 14 annual Town Meeting.
“I present this budget with reluctance,” Hogan told the School Committee. She said the budget respects the parameters set by town leaders and the concern of taxpayers regarding rising property taxes.
Contracts for next year for administrators and teachers are still being negotiated, Hogan said. She said the budget includes no staff raises.
There are also no fee increases in the proposed budget, she said. Fees for sports, student parking and transportation all will remain the same, she said.
The proposed budget calls for the reduction of 10 teaching positions, a guidance counselor, three teacher aids and two tutors.
Positions that would be reduced at the high school include a family and consumer science teacher, a Portuguese teacher, a guidance counselor and assistant coaches and assistant advisers for clubs, Hogan said.
“I did not cut sports or clubs,” she said, adding, “Activities are part of education.”
Middle school positions that would be cut include a grade six teacher, a reading teacher and a technology teacher. “I left art, physical education and Spanish at the middle school,” Hogan said.
Additional teaching reductions include a grade 2 teacher at Chapin Street School, a kindergarten and grade 1 teacher at East Street School and two tutors at Veterans Park School.
Class size in grades 1 and 2 would go up to 23 or 24 students, Hogan said.
Hogan said two of the town’s elementary schools are projected to have 30 fewer students next year.
School Committee member Michael Kelliher said he wished to thank Hogan for serving as interim superintendent and developing the proposed budget.
Hogan is the retired principal of Baird Middle School.
“You were the right person to have for this,” Kelliher said. “Thank you for your perspective.”