The Scarborough Board of Education passed a $35.9 million budget Thursday night, a 7.3 percent increase from this year’s $33.5 million.

The budget was expected to be reviewed by the Town Council Wednesday night. Council Chairman Jeffrey Messer indicated it may get a chilly response.

“(The proposed increase) is just far and away, way outside what has been proposed in the past,” he said. “Especially in this economic climate, this isn’t the time.” He said the proposed increase is nearly double the roughly $1.5 million increases the schools have been granted in recent years.

“To have that number nearly double is, quite frankly, I don’t want to use inflammatory language, but it’s frankly quite shocking,” he said.

School board members say schools need to make up for several fairly lean years when the council capped spending despite student population increases.

“Generally, it’s a maintenance budget,” said board member Annalee Rosenblatt. “It’s not moving ahead.”

As approved by the board, the budget would result in a tax rate increase of approximately 2 to 2.5 percent if the town’s taxable property has grown in value as expected, according to Superintendent David Doyle. Scarborough expects to get about the same amount of state aid next year, roughly $6.5 million, as it did last year.

The approved budget is slightly lower than the $36.4 million budget Doyle presented to the board of education in January, due to anticipated savings in several areas. Health insurance is not expected to increase as much as originally believed, saving $170,000, and debt service is also expected to be lower than planned, saving $200,000. In addition, $50,000 has been trimmed from several curriculum areas and $50,000 to pay for pool and ice time for sports teams was cut. The board added $5,000 to help fund the activities of the Gym Dandies, Wentworth Intermediate School’s popular performing club.

School board members discussed cutting $25,000 slated to give the district athletic trainer a raise, but left the money in the budget after a 4-2 vote. Board members said the increase, to $50,000 in salaries and benefits, would bring the full-time position to a salary level comparable with other districts.

The budget adds 6 1/2 staff positions positions to help lower class size, including a full-time social worker to address behavior problems with kindergartens through second-grade students. Currently, there is one social worker serving the district’s elementary schools, said Assistant Superintendent Andrew Dolloff.

The budget also provides for the replacement of four modular classrooms at Wentworth Intermediate School, the addition of four modular classrooms at the middle school and the addition of two modular classrooms at Eight Corners Elementary School. The district has about 50 modular classrooms currently in use, Doyle said, including some that are in such poor condition that doors are rotting and students and teachers wear coats in class.

The district’s oldest modulars are not occupied full time, he said. Some are used for storage.

School enrollment is expected to increase by about 50 students, or about 2 percent, next year. Although the school population continues to grow annually, the rate of growth has slowed from the mid-1990s, when 100 or more students moved into the district annually, Doyle said.

If it’s passed by the Town Council, the budget may have to then be approved by voters under new school consolidation legislation requiring voter “validation” of town and school budgets. It is unclear whether that legislation will remain in effect.

Doyle said he expects townspeople to approve the budget if it comes to a town-wide vote.

“I think by and large the people in Scarborough have been very supportive of education,” he said. “They are a frugal group and we try to be careful about how we spend their money.”