WESTBROOK – The $33 million 2011-2012 budget for the Westbrook School Department is now in the School Committee’s hands, but not before the finance committee last week recommended saving some positions and programs from elimination.

If the finance committee’s recommendations hold, the district would manage to rescue all of its nurses, most of its guidance counselors, and all its technology coordinators, who might have to get their pink slips otherwise. In addition, the finance committee is recommending not cutting several athletics programs, including the hockey program and all freshman athletics, as well as the high school jazz band.

But that comes at a price: the finance committee’s recommendations will add up to a net gain of $706,542 to the 2011-2012 budget, a gain that, if approved, would have to be shouldered by taxpayers. Dawn Ouellette, the city’s chief financial officer, said Thursday that the gain would result in a school-side property tax increase of 2.24 percent, or 38 cents. On a $190,000 home, Ouellette said, that translates into a $72.58 annual increase in taxes, if the committee’s recommendations are adopted.

The April 6 marathon four-hour discussion followed a 21?2-hour plea from around 200 parents, staff members and students not to cut too deeply into the district’s resources at a public hearing at the middle school performing arts center. The meeting finally ended at around 1:30 a.m.

At issue is a $3.7 million budget gap, caused in part by losses in state funding and the loss of nearly $1 million in federal stimulus funds. School officials have made it clear that the gap cannot be closed without large cuts in programs and personnel.

Interim School Superintendent Marc Gousse presented the administration’s recommended cuts to the district’s budget. The list was similar to a list of proposed cuts that began circulating on March 30.

If the cuts are made, officials at the meeting said, there would be no increase to the district’s budget, and no additional burden for taxpayers.

But the deep cuts in programs and personnel didn’t sit well with members of the crowd that spoke out during the public hearing.

Judie Reed, a secretary in the high school athletics department, who said her position may be eliminated, said she worried that the cuts would teach an ugly lesson to the students.

“What message are we sending to our students? That when the going gets tough, we take things away from them?” she said.

Jennifer Curtis, a Title I teacher at Saccarappa Elementary School, also said she worried for her students if something happened to her position.

“These are kids who find learning very difficult,” she said through tears.

Many parents and students also spoke that night. Adrienne Cordes, a student at Canal Elementary School, who suffers from diabetes, said she worried about who would help her test her blood sugar levels.

“The nurses mean a lot to the children, especially to children like me,” she said.

Sandra Good, of Bridgton Road, waved a copy of the list of possible cuts to the budget as she addressed the board and the crowd.

“To me, this list is unthinkable right now,” she said. “We all need to dig a tiny bit deeper and across the board to protect what’s on this list.”

Toward the end of the public hearing, a group of high school students also asked to be heard. Among them was Stephanie Brown, a graduating senior who, inspired by her teachers, plans to study education this fall at the University of Southern Maine.

“I want to be proud I graduated from Westbrook schools, not just that I got out in time,” she said.

After the hearing, the committee went over the list of cuts, asking questions and challenging some of the items on Gousse’s list.

Gousse, who took over for departing Superintendent Reza Namin, said placing anything at all on the list of cuts has been a difficult decision.

“This is probably one of the most difficult positions I’ve ever been in, in my entire life,” he said. “When I go to bed at night, I feel like I have people’s lives in the palm of my hand.”

Gousse pointed out that every part of the district, including the central office, is facing cuts in programs and personnel. He also acknowledged how painful the proposed cuts would be.

“I’m not proud of where we’re at, but this is where we’re at,” he said.

Committee member James Violette, who sat on the three-person finance committee, made a passionate plea to the crowd for understanding. He spoke about his own three children – an artist, an athlete, and an academic – who all stand to lose something in the proposed cuts. He also acknowledged that the city has not had any kind of tax increase, on the city or school side, for several years.

“In 2011, we’re learning that maybe that wasn’t the right thing,” he said.

He also spoke, however, of people in the community, many of whom were likely afraid to come to the hearing, who live on fixed incomes and live in fear that the smallest increase in taxes will force them from their homes. Violette’s voice broke as he talked about one such person, an elderly woman who lived next door to his family for years and acted like a grandmother to his children. Just before the woman died, Violette said, he learned that she was likely to lose her house because she couldn’t afford the taxes.

Violette then made recommendations of his own: that the committee consider not cutting middle school sports, high school sports, the hockey program, and the jazz band. He also directly addressed parents who said they wouldn’t mind paying for programs in the form of higher taxes by suggesting an activities fee, otherwise known as “pay-to-play.”

“I’m holding you to it,” he said.

Violette suggested all students in grades 6-12 who want to participate in any activities, from sports to band to chess club to the National Honor Society, pay a $100 fee. He estimated this alone would generate $80,000-$100,000.

Fellow committee member Alex Stone, who chaired the hearing and meeting on April 6, said he also wanted to see nurses keep their jobs, as well as all the guidance counselors except for one position at the high school level. He also did not approve of removing the district’s technology director and all the coordinators, especially since those workers handle all technological issues on the school and city side.

Gousse said there had been talk of outsourcing those needs, but Stone said until a real proposal to do that emerged, he wanted to keep the coordinators at least.

“I’m not going to gut the entire technology department,” he said. “That’s not going to happen.”

At the end of the night, after getting the tally for how much restoring some cut positions and programs would cost, Stone said he felt that was a reasonable increase.

“That’s a pretty good place to start,” he said.

The full School Committee is expected to finalize its budget proposal on Wednesday, April 27. The school budget then goes to the City Council, and finally to a public referendum for approval.