WINDHAM – Citing higher enrollment at Windham High School, Sandy Prince, superintendent of Regional School Unit 14, has presented a budget proposal 3.1 percent higher than this year’s spending plan.

The $1.18 million hike would bring Windham-Raymond’s school budget to $39.15 million.

Prince unveiled the budget at the March 14 School Board meeting.

Using enrollment forecasts from a private firm, Portland-based Market Decisions, Prince said Windham High School enrollment is expected to increase to 1,057 students, its highest-ever school population. This year’s enrollment is 1,025. The increase is due to more people moving to Windham, as well as consolidation with Raymond, which is sending more students to the high school than prior to consolidation, he said.

As a result, Prince is proposing several new positions to help handle the additional students, and to offset the 60 positions cut in the past few years to limit tax increases.

“The belt was just getting so tight that we were hoping we wouldn’t have to make any reductions, because every year for the last three years, it’s been huge,” Prince said.

Most of the new positions are projected for the high school, which has seen total enrollment increase by 22 percent since 2000. Among them are a full-time art teacher, full-time math teacher, full-time social studies teacher, part-time science teacher and part-time English teacher.

With class size also up at Manchester Elementary School, the superintendent’s budget is proposing an additional full-time fourth-grade teacher.

Prince also proposes the addition of several education technician positions, a full-time groundskeeper and part-time nurse’s aid at the Windham Primary School.

“Increasing enrollment combined with reduced positions in the past, we just really feel the pinch with class sizes especially at the high school,” Prince said, estimating typical class size ranges from 16 to 28 kids.

Prince is also factoring higher gas and food prices into the budget, another major cost driver.

“Food and gas has really gone up in previous years, and that plays a factor,” Prince said. “But over 70 percent of our budget is salaries, so just to open the doors, just status quo, it’s over a million-dollar [increase], not adding anything at all, just salaries.”

Due to the economy, Prince said, he’s also seeing a trend toward staff staying put and not retiring. That adds to the salary budget line because new hires cost less.

“People have been a little nervous in the last two to three years about retiring early or getting out, because of the economy,” Prince said. “But I think it’s no different from what we’re seeing in the business world. People are holding onto their jobs.”

A positive in the local tax impact is an expected increase in state subsidy, according to early data from the Maine Department of Education. First reported as a projected increase of $534,000, Prince said the subsidy has since been lowered to $373,000.

“But that could change, too,” he said. “It’s fuzzy.”

In all, state subsidy is expected to be $14.2 million. Local taxpayers would pick up the balance of the $39 million budget.

After last week’s initial presentation, the School Board started hearing “cost-center” breakdowns at its meeting Wednesday night. After working through the budget, the board will then offer its refined budget to the public May 30 during what is known as a public budget meeting, which is similar to an annual town meeting where attendees vote on the board’s budget. That meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Windham High School. Then, on June 12, Windham and Raymond voters will complete the multi-stage approval process by heading to the polls for a budget validation referendum.

While School Board members offered little in the way of comment after Prince’s presentation, Chairman Mike Duffy said afterward, “Sandy worked hard to bring it in at 3 percent and now it’s the board’s turn to review it in detail to see if we can reduce that.”

Duffy agreed with Prince that staffing is “thin, and we either have to increase the class sizes, which I don’t think helps anybody learn, or supplement with a teacher here and there to keep class sizes down.”