The Bow School District lowered the increase on its latest budget, which was given to the Budget Committee in early January.

The working budget as of Dec. 20 included a 5.13 percent increase over the previous year, but board members worked to trim additional funds.

Including capital reserve amounts, the total increase given to the Budget Committee is now 4.54 percent, or $24,542,914.

According to Duane Ford, School District business administrator, excluding the capital reserve and a bus lease warrant article, the operating budget increase would be 3.65 percent, or $24,318,744.

Ford said because the actual proposed operating budget has not been set, the tax rate cannot be determined yet. Returned surplus, if any, would also change the rate, he said.

Part of the reason for the decrease in the second budget is the cut of two full-time staff positions as well as a part-time position.

In the original working budget, board members had written in one position cut, but after analyzing declining enrollment numbers they decided a second staff slot could be cut as well.

One of the cuts will come from Bow Memorial School’s fifth grade, where there are now six teachers, a number too high to deal with next year’s students who have been taught by five fourth-grade teachers.

“In total, K through 12 we will be two full-time teachers less next year, although we have not yet determined specifically what positions those will be,” said Ford. “At the high school, it’s tough because the kids can choose what classes they want to take. So if we want to reduce a person, we have to first see how many kids are signed up for classes.”

Bow sends out contracts to its teachers in April, which is when administrators will being looking at what positions will not be brought back.

The high school was a good area for a position cutback because, according to Ford, enrollment numbers have fallen from a peak of 1,820 in 2002 to the current number of 1,700 students.

Ford also said this year’s senior class includes 171 students, with only 126 eighth-graders who will be moving onto the high school next year.

In addition to the position cutbacks, $20,000 of equipment was removed from the working budget, and the board reduced some of the funding for the summer special education program to reduce money.

Setting the budget is a lengthy process, according to Ford. “We kept everybody together for two days so they could hear what the other buildings had requested. That way they were able to get a sense of where everybody was at,” said Ford. “The board was comfortable with the originally proposed budget, and they are comfortable with the budget now presented.”