Ledyard — The Board of Education will present a school budget to the Town Council on Wednesday evening for the upcoming fiscal year that includes a 1.2 percent spending hike, reflecting mostly contractual increases in budgets for magnet schools, special education and special education transportation.

The $31,280,929 spending plan is the first budget proposed by new Superintendent of Schools Jason Hartling. The increase he is requesting is a narrow one compared with last year's proposal, which sought a 6.1 percent hike to cover several new elementary school teachers. That request was whittled down by the Board of Education and then the Finance Committee to 1 percent by the end of the budget cycle.

Hartling said he began the budget process when he arrived in September and said he initially was forecasting a roughly $920,000 budget increase due to contractual obligations.

After a meeting in which the town Finance Committee presented its budget guidance for the upcoming year, Hartling said he was going to bring forward a budget that would "look at every opportunity to be fiscally responsible" while maintaining the educational programming, and cut the increase down to $385,596.

"People have really asked tough questions and pushed (our) thinking, and we put together a strong budget because of that," Hartling said of the budget process.

The proposed budget includes an increase of $275,433 in special education transportation and $128,293 in special education tuition.

Hartling, who gave a separate presentation on special education funding, said a number of factors make special education difficult to budget for, including out-of-district tuition and transportation needs, as well as the unpredictability of state grants.

"We tried to forecast as best we can but again, it's very volatile," he said.

The $227,305 in increased magnet school spending reflects both a slight increase in magnet school enrollment as well as tuition increases.

Increases are offset by a $108,957 reduction in teacher salaries, which reflects the net reduction of three teaching positions, six predicted retirements and not filling three vacant positions. The reductions are based on enrollment: one classroom at Ledyard Center and Gallup Hill will be eliminated, as well as a position at Ledyard High School.

Depending on which departments the retirements affect, staff in eliminated positions may be able to be kept on in a similar job.

The Board of Education adopted the superintendent's budget during its Feb. 15 meeting.

n.lynch@theday.com

Proposed Ledyard school budget

School budget for 2016-17: $30,895,333

Proposed chool budget for 2017-18: $31,280,929