NAPLES – After two defeats at the ballot box so far, Lake Region School District officials will once again present their updated budget to district voters at a budget hearing, set for Tuesday, Aug. 2.

With some voters saying the district hasn’t cut enough considering the economy, and others thinking the cuts have been too deep, the school board voted July 14 to cut another $75,000 from the budget, which now sits at $26.5 million.

Residents will get a chance to comment and amend the budget, including the newly proposed cuts, at the district-wide budget hearing. The meeting, at which residents vote on each line item in the budget, as at town meeting, starts at 6:30 p.m. in the Lake Region High School gym. The final budget, as determined by the end of the Aug. 2 meeting, will then head to district voters in a ballot vote on Tuesday, Aug. 9, in each of the district’s four towns: Bridgton, Naples, Sebago and Casco. Voting takes place from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in each of the towns.

The school budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year was rejected by voters for a second time June 30, after $268,000 in cuts were made to the original budget proposal.

In the latest round, according to Superintendent Kathleen Beecher, the school board trimmed a full-time first-grade teacher at Stevens Brook Elementary. The $40,000-a-year position is currently unfilled so the cut wouldn’t affect any particular employee. Beecher said the teacher-student ratio would go from 1:16 to 1:19, which, she said, is similar to the ratio at Songo Lock Elementary in Naples.

The $75,000 cut also includes eliminating $35,000 worth of waived rental fees for school property. Beecher explained that the school system sometimes allows nonprofit organizations to use school facilities at no charge. Under the new arrangement, those organizations would have to pay a small stipend in order to cover associated costs such as heat, electricity or janitorial.

The latest round of cuts is small compared to previous rounds. Since officials began deliberations in January, the district has cut more than $700,000 from the budget. At this point, Beecher said, the proposed budget is less than last year’s budget.

While the school system is a minimum receiver under the state’s school subsidy formula, next year may provide Lake Region residents some relief with the state Department of Education set to calculate subsidy differently. Beecher said initial estimates may net the district $568,000 over two years in reallocated EPS (Essential Programs and Services) funding over the course of the next two budget cycles. However, she said the funding won’t be able until next year.

“It won’t help at all this year,” Beecher said. “We’ve lost a total of $5 million in recent years, so this is at least a little recognition that rural districts like ours have gotten hurt by the current funding formula.”