Norwich - The bulk of possible school budget cuts would fall on the lower grades in Norwich public schools at a time when school officials are trying to improve early childhood education, Superintendent Abby Dolliver told the City Council Monday.

City Manager Alan Bergren proposed no spending increase over this year's $70.38 million school budget, despite a $1.5 million tuition increase at Norwich Free Academy that is part of the public school budget. The school board had requested a 2.15 percent increase to cover just the NFA increase, with the pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade budget remaining at the current level.

During a budget workshop Monday between the Board of Education and the City Council, Dolliver said Bergren's proposal would mean a $1.5 million cut to the pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade budget. And the middle schools have borne the brunt of other budget cuts in recent years, leaving little to cut from those grade levels now, she said.

"So the bulk of the cuts would come from the pre-K to (grade) five," Dolliver said, "and we're trying to improve early intervention."

The board did include two new mental health workers in its budget and restored middle school world languages cut several years ago. Parents asked the school board in March to restore world languages, saying Norwich students were so far behind other students entering NFA.

But Dolliver said if Bergren's flat-funding stands, those new additions likely would be cut to absorb the NFA increase, along with major cuts in the lower grades.

When Bergren announced his budget plan April 1, he said the Board of Education should seek a waiver with the state to use some state school improvement reform funding to cover operating costs.

"There is no waiver," Dolliver told the City Council Monday.

State grant funding is different this year and confusing, Dolliver said. Norwich participates in two state reform programs, the Alliance District and the John B. Stanton School Network improvement programs.

For the Alliance District funding, the school system must submit a plan to the state Department of Education for how the district would use the money. Norwich hopes to receive $2 million over the next two years, but Dolliver rejected the implication that the money means "double" Education Cost Sharing funding, saying it has to be stretched over the next two or three years.

"A substantial majority (of state grant funding) will come to the Board of Education, and we have to write an application and it has to be approved, and that's how we have to use the money," Dolliver said.

c.bessette@theday.com