Unexpected expenses due to special education needs have forced the Candia School Board to freeze spending until further discussions can take place at the Jan. 8 School Board meeting.

“We are looking at and strongly considering the budget, where it is for this year,” said School Board Chairman Ed Caito. “We had, in August, an unexpected special needs situation which was unbudgeted.”

While Candia does have a fund for such situations, Caito said it would be completely exhausted by this student’s needs, and now another student may also need additional services.

“That’s putting our budget in a difficult situation,” he said. “Projecting out for rest of year, spending as we normally would could put us into a deficit situation. So we’re freezing it now.”

What a freeze on spending means is not clear. Caito was unwilling to speculate on what cuts might be necessary.

“It could mean no discretionary spending,” he said, “or maybe only with the approval of the superintendant.”

Caito said the board goes through a process each month with Business Manager Karen Lessard, looking at projections for the year. He said they will know more at the Jan. 8 meeting, which coincides with a Budget Committee meeting on the 2009- 10 budget, which the committee had hoped to level-fund.

SAU15 Superintendant Charles “Phil” Littlefield agreed it is too early to speculate on cuts.

“For now we will limit expendiures to the bare necessities and will postpone other needs until we are convinced we have met other obligations,” he said. “This will be a work in progress and something we will revisit for the remainder of the fiscal year.”