Town schools likely won’t be handicapped by spending cuts ordered last week in Augusta, according to Brunswick schools Superintendent Paul Perzanoski.

Gov. Paul LePage on Thursday announced that more than $35 million in the current fiscal year’s budget — including about $12 million in education and $8 million in health services — would be eliminated.

The cuts mean that Brunswick will lose about $235,000 from its currentyear budget of $33.4 million.

Perzanoski said Friday that the governor’s curtailment order “was less than we anticipated.”

“We should have it pretty well covered by the way we’ve handled our budget the past couple of years,” he said.

Brunswick’s current school budget is $33.4 million. However, this year’s curtailment also creates a similar hole in the schools’ 2013-14 budget, the planning process for which is just beginning.

“It’s going to be busy the next five months,” Perzanoski said. “We have to start building a budget and do it with less money, which is the same thing we had to do a few years ago. It’s not unusual, but when it happens year after year, it starts to become a problem.”

Three years ago, the gaps were filled with millions in federal stimulus money.

There will be no help from Wash- ington, D.C., this year.

A public forum is scheduled to be held during the School Board’s regular meeting Jan. 23. It’s a chance to discuss budgeting priorities and goals with residents and taxpayers.

A similar session at the start of budgeting last year “seemed to work out well,” Perzanoski said.

While there might be other shortfalls to deal with, school department bookkeeper Jim Oikle said those would be dealt with as they occurred.

“We won’t know what else there is to plan for until we look at the educational needs of the expected enrollment we’ve got coming in, and it’s too early right now to speculate about that,” Oikle said. “I try never to second-guess what’s going to happen in Augusta. They’re dealing with many things I’m not aware of.”

jtleonard@timesrecord.com